VDM specification language
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VDM Specification Language (VDM-SL) is a model-oriented specification language, upon which the Vienna Development Method for computer software is based. An ISO Standard for the language was released in 1996 (ISO, 1996).
The origins of VDM-SL lie in the IBM Laboratory in Vienna where the first version of the language, then called Meta-IV (Bjorner et al. 1978), was used to describe the PL/I programming language. Other programming languages described, or partially described, using Meta-IV and VDM-SL include the BASIC programming language, FORTRAN, the APL programming language, ALGOL 60, the Ada programming language and the Pascal programming language. Meta-IV evolved into several variants, generally described as the Danish, English and Irish Schools.
The "English School" derived from work by Cliff Jones on the aspects of VDM not specifically related to language defeinition and compiler design (Jones 1980, 1990). It stresses modelling persistent state through the use of data types constructed from a rich collection of base types. Functionality is typically described through operations which may have side-effects on the state and which are mostly specified implicitly using a precondition and postcondition. The "Danish School" (Bjørner et al 1982) has tended to stress a constructive approach with explicit operational specification used to a greater extent. Danish work led to the first European validated Ada compiler.
See also
- Z specification language, the main alternative to VDM-SL (compare)
External links
- VDM standard (ftp://gateway.dec.com/pub/vdmsl_standard)
References
- D. Bjorner and C. B. Jones (eds.), The Vienna Development Method: The Meta-Language, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 61, Springer Verlag 1978
- D. Bjørner and C. B. Jones, Formal Specification and Software Development Prentice Hall International, 1982. ISBN 0138807337
- J. Dawes, The VDM-SL Reference Guide, Pitman 1991
- J. S. Fitzgerald and P. G. Larsen, Modelling Systems: Practical Tools and Techniques for Software Development, Cambridge University Press, 1998, ISBN 0521623480
- J. S. Fitzgerald, P. G. Larsen, P. Mukherjee, N. Plat and M. Verhoef. Validated Designs for Object-oriented Systems, Springer Verlag, 2005. ISBN 1852338814
- International Organization for Standardisation, Information technology - Programming languages, their environments and system software interfaces - Vienna Development Method - Specification Language - Part 1: Base language International Standard ISO/IEC 13817-1, December 1996.
- C. B. Jones, Systematic Software Development Using VDM, Prentice Hall International, 1990. ISBN
- C. B. Jones, Software Development: A Rigorous Approach, Prentice Hall International, 1980. ISBN 0138218846
- C. B. Jones and R. Shaw (eds.), Case Studies in Systematic Software Development, Prentice Hall International, 1990. ISBN 0138807337
- This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is licensed under the GFDL.