Knowledge-based Tool Research Articles

Knowledge-based debugging

Robert Balzer began the session by presenting an overview of where debugging fits into knowledge-based programming systems. He distinguished between differences in <italic>paradigm</italic> (the traditional software engineering approach in which the source code is the first formal representation vs. the operational specification approach in which the specification is both formal and <italic>executable</italic> and from which the implementation is formally derived) and differences in <italic>technology</italic> (traditional debuggers vs. knowledge-based tools), pointing out that it is possible to use traditional debugging techniques with the operational specification paradigm as well as use knowledge-based tools with the traditional software engineering paradigm. Balzer presented the operational specification paradigm for software development. The basic idea is that an implementation is derived from a specification through transformations chosen by the programmer and applied by the system. Assuming each transformation is correct, the resulting implementation will accurately reflect the intentions of the specification.

Knowledge-based debugging

Robert Balzer began the session by presenting an overview of where debugging fits into knowledge-based programming systems. He distinguished between differences in <italic>paradigm</italic> (the traditional software engineering approach in which the source code is the first formal representation vs. the operational specification approach in which the specification is both formal and <italic>executable</italic> and from which the implementation is formally derived) and differences in <italic>technology</italic> (traditional debuggers vs. knowledge-based tools), pointing out that it is possible to use traditional debugging techniques with the operational specification paradigm as well as use knowledge-based tools with the traditional software engineering paradigm. Balzer presented the operational specification paradigm for software development. The basic idea is that an implementation is derived from a specification through transformations chosen by the programmer and applied by the system. Assuming each transformation is correct, the resulting implementation will accurately reflect the intentions of the specification.