From play-in scenarios to code: an achievable dream

• Published in: Computer (Long Beach, Calif.) Vol. 34; no. 1; pp. 53 - 60
• Main Author: Harel, D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01-01-2001; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Computer programs; Computer science; Computer simulation; Database systems; Debugging; Hardware design languages; Joining processes; Mathematical models; Messages; Object oriented modeling; Optimization methods; Personal computers; Proposals; R&D; Research & development; Sequencing; Sweeping; System testing; Unified modeling language
• ISSN: 0018-9162; 1558-0814
• DOI: 10.1109/2.895118

The article presents a general, rather sweeping development scheme for complex reactive systems, combining ideas that have been known for a long time with more recent ones. The scheme makes it possible to go from a high-level user-friendly requirements capture method, which is called play-in scenarios, via a rich language for describing message sequencing to a full model of the system, and from there to final implementation. A cyclic process of verifying the system against requirements and synthesizing system parts from the requirements is central to the proposal. The article puts special emphasis on the languages, methods, and computerized tools that allow smooth but rigorous transitions between the various stages of the scheme. In contrast to database systems, the article focuses on systems that have a dominant reactive, event-driven facet. For these systems, modeling and analyzing behavior is the most crucial and problematic issue.