Ana Cavalli - Böcker

IWPTS'95 (International Workshop on Protocol Test Systems) is being held this year at !NT (Institut National des Telecommunications), Evry, France, from 4 to 6 September, 1995. IWPTS'95 is the eighth of a series of annual meetings sponsored by the IFIP Working Group WG6.1 dedicated to "Architecture and Protocols for Computer Networks". The seven previous workshops were held in Vancouver (Canada, 1988), Berlin (Germany, 1989), Mclean (USA, 1990), Leidschendam (The Netherlands, 1991), Montreal (Canada, 1992), Pau (France, 1993) and Tokyo (Japan, 1994). The workshop is a meeting place where both research and industry, theory and practice come together. By bringing both researchers and practitioners together, IWPTS opens up the communication between these groups. This helps keep the research vital and improves the state of the practitioner's art. Forty-eight papers have been submitted to IWPTS'95 and all of them have been reviewed by the members of the Program Committee and additional reviewers. The completed reviewers list is included in this Proceedings. Based on these reviews, the Program Committee selected 26 for oral presentation and 4 to be presented as posters. Two specially invited papers complete the Workshop Program, which is composed of ten sessions: Testing Methods (Session 1), Test Environments (Session 2), Theoretical Framework (Session 3), Algorithms and Languages (Session 4), Test Generation 1 (Session 5), Testability (Session 6), Test Generation 2 (Session 7), Industrial Applications (Session 8), Distributed Testing and performance (Session 9) and Test Management (Session 10).

This study addresses formal description techniques (FDTs) applicable to distributed systems and communication protocols. It aims to present the state of the art in theory, application, tools and industrialization of FDTs. Among the important features presented are: FDT-based system and protocol engineering; FDT-application to distributed systems; Protocol engineering; Practical experience and case studies. The text comprises the proceedings of the Joint International Conference on Formal Description Techniques for Distributed Systems and Communication Protocols and Protocol Specification, Testing and Verification, sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing, and held in November 1998, Paris, France. The work is suitable as a secondary text for a graduate-level course on Distributed Systems or Communications, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.

As Cavalli and Sarma astutely remarked in the introduction to this volume, it is quite remarkable that SDL '97 may have the first participant younger than SDL itself. SDL '97 provides the opportunity to reflect the course SDL has taken and why it has been successful over two decades where other languages addressing the same market have failed.

SDL now also has a permanent companion in MSC (Message Sequence Charts). MSC today is a language in its own right and has its areas of application both in conjunction with SDL and independently or in combination with other techniques. MSC has strong structuring concepts to specify message sequences for large systems and can be used to develop scenarios, which is extremely useful for test and design environments. The SDL Forum today really is the SDL and MSC Forum.

Formal Description Techniques and Protocol Specification, Testing and Verification addresses formal description techniques (FDTs) applicable to distributed systems and communication protocols. It aims to present the state of the art in theory, application, tools and industrialization of FDTs. Among the important features presented are: FDT-based system and protocol engineering; FDT-application to distributed systems; Protocol engineering; Practical experience and case studies. Formal Description Techniques and Protocol Specification, Testing and Verification comprises the proceedings of the Joint International Conference on Formal Description Techniques for Distributed Systems and Communication Protocols and Protocol Specification, Testing and Verification, sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing, held in November 1998, Paris, France. Formal Description Techniques and Protocol Specification, Testing and Verification is suitable as a secondary text for a graduate-level course on Distributed Systems or Communications, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.

IWPTS'95 (International Workshop on Protocol Test Systems) is being held this year at !NT (Institut National des Telecommunications), Evry, France, from 4 to 6 September, 1995. IWPTS'95 is the eighth of a series of annual meetings sponsored by the IFIP Working Group WG6.1 dedicated to "Architecture and Protocols for Computer Networks". The seven previous workshops were held in Vancouver (Canada, 1988), Berlin (Germany, 1989), Mclean (USA, 1990), Leidschendam (The Netherlands, 1991), Montreal (Canada, 1992), Pau (France, 1993) and Tokyo (Japan, 1994). The workshop is a meeting place where both research and industry, theory and practice come together. By bringing both researchers and practitioners together, IWPTS opens up the communication between these groups. This helps keep the research vital and improves the state of the practitioner's art. Forty-eight papers have been submitted to IWPTS'95 and all of them have been reviewed by the members of the Program Committee and additional reviewers. The completed reviewers list is included in this Proceedings. Based on these reviews, the Program Committee selected 26 for oral presentation and 4 to be presented as posters. Two specially invited papers complete the Workshop Program, which is composed of ten sessions: Testing Methods (Session 1), Test Environments (Session 2), Theoretical Framework (Session 3), Algorithms and Languages (Session 4), Test Generation 1 (Session 5), Testability (Session 6), Test Generation 2 (Session 7), Industrial Applications (Session 8), Distributed Testing and performance (Session 9) and Test Management (Session 10).