A synergistic interweaving of formal and informal methods

Abstract

In most studies of bridging between informal specifications, formal specifications are transformed from informal specifications after completion of specification of the whole system. Most of these formal specifications are used for rigorous study of the system in question, consistency checking, verification of behavior or support system synthesis. During the process of system specification, the strength of formal and informal methods are not complementing to each other. We identified a new specification approach which makes formal methods and informal methods complement each other to a greater extent. This new method interweaves formal methods with informal methods. We find out that this method leads to better quality of specifications, facilitate better changes management and maintenance. This is particular useful during initial specification of systems which is the first stage of specifying informal world in some formal languages. We report our preliminary findings of this novel approach in this paper and exemplify our approach with an example in JSD and CSP.