Logic and object-orientation have come to be recognized as being among the most powerful paradigms for modeling information systems. The term "information systems" is used here in a very general context to denote database systems, software development systems, knowledge base systems, proof support systems, distributed systems and reactive systems. One of the most vigorously researched topics common to all information systems is "formal modeling". An elegant high-level abstraction applicable to both application domain and system domain concepts will always lead to a system design from "outside in"; that is, the aggregation of ideas is around real-life objects about which the system is to be designed. Formal methods \yhen applied with this view in mind, especially during early stages of system development, can lead to a formal reasoning on the intended properties, thus revealing system flaws that might otherwise be discovered much later. Logic in different styles and semantics is being used to model databases and their transactions; it is also used to specify concurrent, distributed, real-time, and reactive systems. ,The notion of "object" is central to the modeling of object oriented databases, as well as object-oriented design and programs in software engineering. Both database and software engineering communities have undoubtedly made important contributions to formalisms based on logic and objects. It is worthwhile bringing together the ideas developed by the two communities in isolation, and focusing on integrating their common strengths.

Klappentext

The Workshop on Formal Methods in Databases and Software Engineering took place at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, from the 15-16 May 1992. Most existing research tends to concentrate exclusively on formal methods in either databases or software engineering. This was the first in a proposed series of workshops specifically aimed at fostering interdisciplinary research between these two important fields. The workshop provided an opportunity for researchers and practitioners to discuss recent developments in an informal setting. Twelve papers were presented and many lively and constructive discussions were conducted. This volume contains selected papers from the workshop, which have been expanded and edited for publication. The theme of the workshop was explored through a variety of topics, including: transaction logic programming; modeling uncertainty and incompleteness in databases; concept learning and data mining; efficient deduction and induction in knowledge-base systems; proof management and verification; temporal and real-time databases; object-oriented VDM; software engineering environments and object charts. Formal Methods in Databases and Software Engineering brings together many topics of current interest in database and software engineering research. By combining these two complementary fields it provides new perspectives on various important issues. It will provide invaluable reading for researchers, practitioners and postgraduate students.

Inhalt
Transaction Logic: An (Early) Exposé.- Aggregate Operations in the Information Source Tracking Method.- An Incremental Concept Formation Approach for Learning from Databases.- The Tecton Proof System.- Modeling Time in Information Systems.- A Unified Framework for Database Specification: Functional Approach.- Using VDM Within an Object-Oriented Framework.- Software Engineering Environments What Do We Want?.- Efficient Deduction and Induction: Key to the Success of Data-Intensive Knowledge-Base Systems.- On Querying Temporal Deductive Databases.- Intuitionistic Interpretation of Deductive Databases with Incomplete Information.- Author Index.