An Informal Approach to Formal (Algebraic) Specifications
Antonio Luz Furtado · The Computer Journal · 1985
Formal techniques exist for the crucial specification phase in the design of systems, including database applications. We briefly indicate the potential benefits of the so-called abstract data type discipline and show how it might be made more palatable to the non-mathematician. This is done through the mechanism of traces. This tool is used both as a mechanism for modelling (in an executable manner) the application and as a basis for a methodology which can be used in the development of a formal algebraic specification.