Abstract
The primary objective of software specification is to promote understanding of the system properties between stakeholders. Specification comprehensibility is essential particularly during software validation and maintenance as it permits the understanding of the system properties more easily and quickly prior to the required tasks. Formal notation such as B increases a specification’s precision and consistency. However, the notation is regarded as being difficult to comprehend due to its unfamiliar symbols and rules of interpretation. Semi-formal notation such as the Unified Modelling Language (UML) is perceived as more accessible but it cannot be verified systematically to ensure a specification’s accuracy. Integrating the UML and B could perhaps produce an accurate and approachable specification. This paper presents an experimental comparison of the comprehensibility of a UML-based graphical formal specification versus a purely textual formal specification. The measurement focused on the efficiency in performing the comprehension tasks. The experiment employed a cross-over design and was conducted on forty-one third-year and masters students. The results show that the integration of semi-formal and formal notations expedites the subjects’ comprehension tasks with accuracy even with limited hours of training.
Highlights
Specification is a fundamental software artefact as it captures what a system should do
The findings of the experiment provide a preliminary indication that the integration of both semi-formal and formal notation is useful in promoting specification or model comprehensibility as compared to the formal notation alone
A model that integrates the use of both notations such as the Unified Modelling Language (UML)-B model is capable of expediting the subjects’ comprehension task with accuracy even with limited training
Summary
Specification is a fundamental software artefact as it captures what a system should do. It is the primary point of reference for people who deal with a system during the validation and maintenance processes. Many stakeholders rely on their understanding of the software specification and comprehensibility is an important factor. Specification comprehensibility is defined as the ease of understanding of a specification. The use of mathematical or formal notation in a specification increases its precision, which enables greater consistency and correctness to be obtained [1,2]. A formal notation can cause comprehension difficulties [3,4,5]. The notation is seen as being difficult to comprehend due to the usage of unfamiliar symbols and underlying rules of interpretation that are not apparent to many practitioners
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