next up previous
Next: Analysis of Software Frameworks Up: 2 Position Previous: On The Nature of

Subsections


Specification of Software Frameworks

What formalisms are appropriate/sufficient for describing framework behavior?

Frameworks can provide a wide variety of functionality. What are the tradeoffs in using different formal methods to describe those functionalities? Can lightweight methods, e.g., automata or propositional temporal logics, effectively describe critical components of behavior? Can hybrid approaches be used that separate light and heavy weight methods?

What formalisms are appropriate/sufficient for describing parameter behavior?

Just as frameworks provide functionality, they also require functionality from the components that parameterize it. Well designed frameworks make minimal assumptions about their parameters. In our experience these assumptions are much simpler to describe than the behavior of the framework itself. In general, are framework parameter assumptions amenable to encoding using lightweight methods?



Matthew B. Dwyer
Sept. 2, 1997