PROPAGATING CHANGES IN ALGEBRAIC SPECIFICATIONS

Controlling changes is an important problem in software development. By considering the problem as containing or propagating the ripple effects of an initial change throughout the inter-relations of products, we can formalise mechanisms to deal with the overall effects of a change. If we restrict ourselves to formal specifications based on algebraic methodologies, we can obtain a precise picture of the changes in semantics as well as those in syntax. This line of investigation produces detailed requirements for, and even designs of, an environment that incorporates algebraic specification methodologies.