Using Abduction to Evolve Inconsistent Requirements Specification
Bashar Nuseibeh, Alessandra Russo · AJIS. Australasian journal of information systems/AJIS. Australian journal of information systems/Australian journal of information systems · 1999
Requirements specifications are often inconsistent.Inconsistencies may arise because multiple conflicting requirements are embodied in these specifications, or because the specifications themselves are in a transient stage of evolutionary development.In this paper we argue that such inconsistencies, rather than being undesirable, are actually useful drivers for changing the requirements specifications in which they arise.We present a formal technique to reason about inconsistency handling changes.Our technique is an adaptation of logical abduction -adapted to generate changes that address some specification inconsistencies, while leaving others.We represent our specifications in quasi-classical (QC) logic -an adaptation of classical logic that allows continued reasoning in the presence of inconsistency.The paper develops a sound algorithm for automating our abductive reasoning technique and presents illustrative examples drawn from a library system case study.