Assisting requirement formalization by means of natural language translation

Abstract

Abstract. A prototype assistant, NL2ACTL, is presented for the formalization ofbehavioural requirements for the design of reactive systems. NL2ACTL is a tool for the automatic translation of Natural Language sentences, into formulae of the action-based temporal logic ACTL. The Natural Language sentences are used to express informal requirements of reactive systems. ACTL is suitable for expressing properties of reactive systems, specified by means of process algebra terms. NL2ACTL was realized using a general development environment for Natural Language Processing and it has been interfaced with a verification environment which allows behavioural and logical properties of reactive systems to be checked.

Lightweight validation of natural language requirements

“…A comparable model is obtained in [13], where a 'utility language' based on a restricted grammar is used to express the requirements. A restricted language, specifically devoted to expressing temporal relationships, is also used in [10]. The authors show how requirements expressed in the restricted language can be mapped to the action logic ACTL; various reachability and liveness properties are then model checked on the ACTL specification.…”

“…These range from their application to the very early stages of a development process (such as [5] where lexical analysis is used to find abstractions in unstructured and uninterpreted text), to design support systems [6] and reengineering applications on existing code [7]. Others have studied the application of natural language (NL) understanding techniques to the automatic extraction of models from NL requirements [8][9][10][11][12][13]. The application of lightweight methods to the analysis and validation of NL requirements is particularly appealing, since industrial practice shows that NL requirements are easier to evolve, maintain and discuss with (possibly non-technical) customers.…”

On the Systematic Analysis of Natural Language Requirements with CIRCE

“…Very restricted versions of NL are often comparable to formal languages with NL-like keywords: in Fantechi et al (1994), the subset of NL used is so strictly defined that there is a 1-to-1 mapping between linguistic structures and linear temporal logic structures. Similar approaches have been taken by a number of researchers; see among others (Fuchs and Schwertel, 2003;Schwitter, 2002), where discourse representation structures and firstorder logic are used; Sukkarieh and Pulman (1999) where specifications are mapped to a special purpose logic; or the older (Rolland and Proix, 1992).…”

“…Some author have proposed a fixed language, strictly tied to a particular domain, e.g., AECMA Simplified English (AECMA, 2001) for the aerospace domain, or to specific models, e.g., to linear temporal logic in Fantechi et al (1994). Very restricted versions of NL are often comparable to formal languages with NL-like keywords: in Fantechi et al (1994), the subset of NL used is so strictly defined that there is a 1-to-1 mapping between linguistic structures and linear temporal logic structures.…”

SMART: System Model Acquisition from Requirements Text

“…Lexical analysis was used [16] to find abstractions in unstructured and un-interpreted text. Other studies applied NL parsing and understanding techniques to automatic extraction of models from NL requirements [17,18,19]. Several specific NLP tools and techniques, including [20,21], have been introduced for the purpose of analyzing and controlling software requirements.…”