Animation of requirements specifications

Abstract

AbstractRequirements analysis has been recognized as one of the most critical and difficult tasks in software engineering. The need for tool support is essential. This paper reports some work done to provide such support for interpretation and validation of requirements specifications by animation.The Animator provides facilities for the selection and execution of a transaction to reflect the specified behaviour of a particular scenario specified in the requirements specification. Actions are described in terms of input‐output mappings and or functions with pattern matching. Simple rules can be specified to control the triggering of actions. In addition, facilities are provided to replay and interact with transactions. User interaction during animation includes the ability to change data values or role play selected actions as desired. A full graphical interface is supported.The approach has been tested by the provision of an Animator for the requirements analysis method CORE and an associated ‘Analyst Workstation’. Animation has been tested on a number of small examples and a major case study. This paper describes the Animator, justifies the approach taken and discusses experience and future work.