Semi-automatic transformation from formal specifications to programs

Abstract

As model-based formal methods (e.g. VDM, Z) are becoming popular for the development of safety-critical and complex systems in industry, automatic transformation from formal specications to programs is an ideal and ecient approach to software p r oduction. However, it is impossible in general for this transformation to be fully automatic, because of the language of rst order logic used for specication is not decidable. This paper uses VDM (Vienna Development Method) as an example to investigate this diculty, and proposes an approach to address the problem. Rules for automatically transforming abstract level VDM specications are described, and further transformation at a detailed level is discussed. Finally, further work towards the construction of a rule-based software system to support the transformation from VDM specications to programs in general is addressed.