Formal specification – an analytic tool for (management) information systems
Authors: Swatman, PA; Swatman, PMC
Journal: Information Systems Journal (1992)
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2575.1992.tb00071.x
<jats:p><jats:bold>Abstract. </jats:bold> There appears to be a general consensus within the information systems literature that formal specification of software systems is an inappropriate response to the perceived general failure of information systems to meet user requirements. Such views would seem to be based primarily on the difficulty of constructing formal specifications – and on the difficulty of understanding such specifications once constructed. Research into the applicability of formal methods has therefore tended to concentrate on the needs and the context of software developers specializing in critical and extremely complex software such as operating systems, transaction processing monitors, or nuclear reactor protection. More recently, however, formal methods have been applied successfully in more conventional and commercial areas, such as the development of a CASE tool, indicating that many of the perceived disadvantages of formal methods are merely myths.</jats:p><jats:p>This paper discusses the differing research directions of the information systems and software engineering disciplines and suggests that significant beneflts may result from a synthesis of the two…