Applying Formal Specifications in Web Design - A Comparative Study

This paper provides an example (the Piano example) that illustrates parts of the software life cycle processes of specification, refinement and implementation in a Web Service- and Web form application. Part of the software system is specified in Z, data- and operation refined and then implemented into Visual C# .NET. A relational database PianosService.mdf is used, and the system is run on the ASP.NET platform. The main emphasis of the paper is to indicate how the implementation language and technologies used drive the design of the specification, and not the other way around. In other words, how the specification of a component or system might be developed in response to evolving awareness and understanding of context, changing requirements and user experience. The Piano system has been designed, tested and run to check its correct behaviour and the correct specification for the data and data access methods.