Abstract

The description methods introduced in the preceding chapter form the basis for the development of specification languages or formal description techniques. They are applied as semantic models for these techniques. In contrast to the description methods, formal description techniques (FDTs) permit an (almost) complete description of services, protocols, and distributed systems. The requirements on the design of formal description techniques resemble at first glance those of programming language design. Important requirements are a high expressiveness, i.e., the description technique should be able to represent all relevant elements of a service and a protocol, a reasonable level of abstraction to make no reference to possible implementations, the presence of suitable structuring features to promote the understanding and handling of the specification in the further development steps, and the suitability of the language features such that they do not limit or inadequately affect further development stages. Unlike programming languages, formal description techniques demand a formally defined syntax and semantics. The latter represents the crucial difference. It is required to ensure the unique interpretation of the formal specifications.

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