Date of Award

5-7-2010

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Computer Science

Supervisor

Wolfram Kahl

Language

English

Abstract

Specification of Large Scale Systems like Safety Critical Softwares is an important yet frequently tedious process. The requirement analysts often face a large number of conditions and cases during the process of requirement elicitation. One of the tools used to deal with this is employing multi-dimensional mathematical expressions, called Tabular Expressions by Parnas, to show and to study the specifications and to also check the properties of the system.

The compositional syntax that was introduced by Kahl is a simple and comprehensible basis for implementation of tabular expressions. Kahl's implementation of his formalization in the functional programming language Haskell started a new approach to syntax and semantics of tabular expressions.

In this thesis, we expand the project that Kahl initiated using his formalization to establish tool support of regular tables. A tool like this one has always been missing for people who use tabular expressions in the requirement analysis. We have designed a platform-independent, graphically interactive, and expansible tool using GTK in Haskell. In this thesis, we have also added the support of nested headers and implemented some features needed to work with nested headers for a better practical tool.

McMaster University Library


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