An experience in using EDT to process the ISO transaction processing estelle specification

Abstract

One of the hindrances to the adoption of the uses of Formal Description Techniques (FDTs) in the computer and communications industries is the nonavailability of standardized formal specification of protocol. The Transaction Processing (TP) Draft International Standard (DIS) published in 1990 was probably the first protocol that has been specified both in LOTOS and Estelle by ISO. The Estelle specification was big in size with about 8000 lines of codes. However, even with the availability of this standardized formal specification, its usefulness is limited unless there is a computer tool that supports its use for protocol development. This article describes the experience in using the Estelle Development Toolset (EDT) to compile, to generate C codes from, and to simulate the TP DIS Estelle specification. It aims to provide developers with some pointers to the potential difficulties and successes of protocol development of an ISO standardized formal specification using a computer tool. One of the ways to help industrialize the uses of FDTs is by having more reports on uses of standardized formal specifications. With the lessons learned from this work, this article also attempts to encourage wider industrial uses of FDTs and standardized formal specification for protocol development.