Vieweg Advanced Studies in Computer Science – serie

This work presents a new, abstract and comprehensive view of open distributed systems. The starting point is a small number of core concepts and basic principles, which are informally introduced and precisely defined using mathematical logic. It is shown how the basic concepts of open systems interconnection (OSI), which are currently the most important standardization activities in the context of open distributed systems, can be obtained by specialization and extension of these basic concepts. Application examples include the formal treatment of the interaction point concept and the hierarchical development of communication systems. This book is a contribution to the field of software engineering in general and to the design of open distributed systems in particular. It is oriented towards the design and implementation of real systems, and brings together both formal logical reasoning and current software engineering practice.

This volume presents an approach to the formal object-oriented specification of information systems. The approach focuses on the early phases of system development where existing systems have to be described or systems to be developed have to be prescribed (requirements specification or conceptional modeling). Systems are considered to be reactive systems composed from objects that evolve concurrently in a discrete, event-driven way. Based on a temporal logic framework, the language TROLL is defined. TROLL supports the integrated specification of structural and behavioural properties of objects, as well as abstractions like roles, specifications and composite objects. Furthermore, concepts for constructing systems specifications from parts are introduced. Finally, the approach is related to similar ones and discussed.