Grey box data refinement
E.A. Boiten and J. Derrick
In J. Grundy, M. Schwenke, and T. Vickers, editors,
International
Refinement Workshop & Formal Methods Pacific '98, Discrete Mathematics
and Theoretical Computer Science, pages 45-59, Canberra, September 1998.
Springer-Verlag.
Abstract
We introduce the concepts of grey box and display box data types.
These make explicit the idea that state variables in abstract data types are not always
hidden. Programming languages have visibility rules which make representations
observable and modifiable. Specifications in model-based notations may have implicit
assumptions about visible state components, or are used in contexts where the
representation
does matter.
Grey box data types are like the ``standard'' black box data types, except that
they contain explicit subspaces of the state which are modifiable and observable. Display
boxes indirectly observe the state by adding displays to a black box. Refinement rules for
both these alternative data types are given, based on their interpretations as black boxes.
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Bibtex Record
@inproceedings{613,
author = {E.A. Boiten and J. Derrick},
title = {Grey Box Data Refinement},
month = {September},
year = {1998},
pages = {45-59},
keywords = {data refinement, observability, abstract data type, black box, visibility},
note = {},
doi = {},
url = {http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/pubs/1998/613},
ISBN = {981-4021-16-4},
address = {Canberra},
booktitle = {International Refinement Workshop & Formal Methods Pacific '98},
editor = {J. Grundy and M. Schwenke and T. Vickers},
publisher = {Springer-Verlag},
refereed = {yes},
series = {Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science},
}