Monographs in Computer Science

Today's distributed systems are characterized by interactions-often complex-between many different hardware and software components cooperating and exchanging information. To simplify development of interactive systems and facilitate communication and documentation, experts of varying disciplines employ descriptions, or specifications, of a given system's behavior and/or structure. Specification and Development of Interactive Systems offers a unique approach to program and software development suitable for large distributed systems, with an emphasis on modular system development and systems engineering. The authors build a basic method, called FOCUS, that enables interactive systems to be described by characterizing their histories of message interaction. The method covers functional requirements, timing, structure, and implementation issues of systems. In addition, the book describes how to connect the models and techniques to tables and diagram-based methods popular in practical systems engineering. Topics and features: * Specification of interface behavior and modular top-down system development * Specification of time and the modeling of hardware/software systems * Interface refinement and the modeling of development steps leading from one level of abstraction to the next * State transition diagrams and tables and the usage of common description techniques, such as found in UML This book provides a mathematical and logical foundation for the specification and development of interactive systems based on a model that describes systems in terms of their input/output behavior. The reader gains a comprehensive understanding of all fundamental models, techniques, and methods for interactive system design. The book is an essential resource for all researchers and professionals in computer science, software systems engineering and computer engineering.