Title: Towards an institution for Object-Z specifications

Authors: Mohamed Bettaz; Mourad Maouche; M'hamed Mosteghanemi

Addresses: Laboratoire Méthodes de Conception de Systèmes, ESI, Algiers, Algeria ' Philadelphia University, Jordan ' Laboratoire Méthodes de Conception de Systèmes, ESI, Algiers, Algeria

Abstract: Despite its three decades of existence, institution theory continues still to inspire new trends and approaches in the field of formal specification and programming. One such an approach is the so-called 'Grothendieck institution' approach to multi-logic heterogeneous specification paradigm, emphasising the idea that for some kinds of applications it is more suitable to use a 'composite institution' (capable to capture multiple views) rather than a single one. In this work, we define an institution for a 'subset' of Object-Z notation and prove that it has amalgamation. This property is useful for the behaviour of Object-Z specifications in-the-large and for their integration in the framework of a heterogeneous institution supporting a multi-modelling language based on UML and Object-Z.

Keywords: software engineering models; software technology; institution theory; category theory; UML; Object-Z specifications; heterogeneous institutions; multi-modelling language.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2013.054346

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2013 Vol.47 No.2/3, pp.125 - 137

Published online: 05 Jun 2013 *

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