| The object-oriented paradigm and formal specification techniques are being applied to constructing and specifying systems. However, there is not a standard canonical object-oriented model--i.e., the scope of the object-oriented paradigm is not clearly defined. This paper delineates and formalizes a set of object-oriented concepts relevant to software systems' specification and construction into a meta-model.;The proposed object-oriented framework is used as a basis for an interpretation and evaluation of three formal specification languages. The Z style of specification and object-Z extensions, developed at Oxford, are used to specify the meta-model. We then use the meta-model to evaluate three specification techniques--i.e., Z itself, LOTOS, and STATEMATE. An object-oriented style of specification in these specification languages is suggested. |
