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Specifying and executing behavioral requirements: the play-in/play-out approach

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Abstract

A powerful methodology for scenario-based specification of reactive systems is described, in which the behavior is “played in” directly from the system’s GUI or some abstract version thereof, and can then be “played out”. The approach is supported and illustrated by a tool, which we call the play-engine. As the behavior is played in, the play-engine automatically generates a formal version in an extended version of the language of live sequence charts (LSCs). As they are played out, it causes the application to react according to the universal (“must”) parts of the specification; the existential (“may”) parts can be monitored to check their successful completion. Play-in is a user-friendly high-level way of specifying behavior and play-out is a rather surprising way of working with a fully operational system directly from its inter-object requirements. The ideas appear to be relevant to many stages of system development, including requirements engineering, specification, testing, analysis and implementation.

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  1. The Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100, Rehovot, Israel

    David Harel & Rami Marelly

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  1. David Harel
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  2. Rami Marelly
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Harel, D., Marelly, R. Specifying and executing behavioral requirements: the play-in/play-out approach. Softw Syst Model 2, 82–107 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-002-0015-5

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