A Compositional Model for the Formal Specification of User Interface Software
Panagiotis Markopoulos · Queen Mary Research Online (Queen Mary University of London) · 2013
Abstract This thesis investigates abstractions for modelling user interface software, discussingtheir content and their formal representation. Specifically, it focuses on a class ofmodels, called formal interactor models, that incorporate some of the structure of theuser interface software. One such abstract model is put forward. This model is calledthe Abstraction-Display-Controller (ADC) interactor model; its definition draws fromresearch into user interface architectures and from earlier approaches to the formalspecification of user interfaces.The ADC formal interactor model is specified using a specification language calledLOTOS. Several small scale examples and a sizeable specification case studydemonstrate its use. A more rigorous discussion of the ADC model documents itsproperties as a representation scheme. The ADC interactor is compositional, meaningthat as a concept and as a representation scheme it applies both to the user interface as awhole and also to its components. This property is preserved when interactors arecombined to describe more complex entities or, conversely, when an interactor isdecomposed into smaller scale interactors. The compositionality property is formulatedin terms of some theorems which are proven. A discussion on the uses of the ADCmodel shows that it provides a framework for integrating existing research results in theverification of formally specified user interface software. Finally, the thesis proposes aconceptual and formal framework for relating interface models to models of users’ taskknowledge capturing some intuitions underlying task based design approaches.