Modeling of software is hard. The most difficult task is to identify and remain faithful to the right levels of abstraction, to decide what should be in the model and what should be abstracted away. Abstract state machines (ASMs) give the modeler the maximal flexibility in dealing with this task. ASMs are able to simulate arbitrary computer systems on their natural level of abstraction. This is known as the ASM thesis; it has theoretical support and has been confirmed by numerous academic and industrial projects. In order to use ASMs for modeling industrial software, the group on Foundations of Software Engineering at Microsoft Research developed the Abstract State Machine Language. It provides a modern object-oriented, component-based specification environment complete with tools to test and enforce specifications.

In  FSTTCS 2002

Publisher  Springer Verlag
All copyrights reserved by Springer 2007.

Details