Scaling step-wise refinement

• Published in: IEEE transactions on software engineering Vol. 30; no. 6; pp. 355 - 371
• Main Authors: Batory, D., Sarvela, J.N., Rauschmayer, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01-06-2004; IEEE Computer Society
• Subjects: Algebra; Application software; Collaboration; Computer programming; data abstraction; Design; design concepts; Design methodology; design notations and documentation; Documentation; Equations; extensible languages; Extensible Markup Language; feature-oriented programming; Jacobian matrices; Java; methodologies; Packaging; Product lines; program synthesis; refinement; Refining; representation; Software engineering; Specification; Specifications; Studies; Unified modeling language
• ISSN: 0098-5589; 1939-3520
• DOI: 10.1109/TSE.2004.23

Step-wise refinement is a powerful paradigm for developing a complex program from a simple program by adding features incrementally. We present the AHEAD (algebraic hierarchical equations for application design) model that shows how step-wise refinement scales to synthesize multiple programs and multiple noncode representations. AHEAD shows that software can have an elegant, hierarchical mathematical structure that is expressible as nested sets of equations. We review a tool set that supports AHEAD. As a demonstration of its viability, we have bootstrapped AHEAD tools from equational specifications, refining Java and nonJava artifacts automatically; a task that was accomplished only by ad hoc means previously.