Converting Informal Meta-data to VDM-SL: A Reverse Calculation Approach
[ DI/UM ]

by F.L. Neves , J.C. Silva and J.N. Oliveira . In VDM in Practice! (Workshop co-located with FM'99 , Toulouse, France, 20-21 September 1999. Paper: [available as a 181K ps file]. Slides: [available as a 87K ps.gz file]

Abstract: Information system quality is highly dependent upon consistency and reliability of stored data. However, it is hard to maintain the quality of fast-growing data in loosely structured information systems. These very rapidly become infected with so-called ``dirty'' data, a problem nowadays identified under the data quality heading.

The authors are currently engaged in a project which aims at addressing data-quality from a formal-method viewpoint. This includes the adoption of formal techniques for meta-data representation and (reverse) calculation of data intensive applications.

The system currently under development in builds upon past experience gathered in an academic reverse engineering project and some experiments in software reuse involving formal reverse data-structure calculation.

A prototype has emerged from the formal specification of a particular tool we have been designing for the project's software system. The ultimate goal of this tool is to deliver concise formal descriptions - written in the ISO/IEC 13817-1 standard VDM-SL notation - out of informal or poorly structured meta-data.

BibTeX:

@inproceedings{N*99a,
   author = { F. L. Neves and J. C. Silva and J. N. Oliveira },
   title = {
                Converting Informal Meta-data to {VDM-SL}:
                A Reverse Calculation Approach
          },
   booktitle = { VDM in Practice!
                 A Workshop co-located with FM'99:
                 The World Congress on Formal Methods, Toulouse, France,
                 20-21 September },
   month = { September },
   year = { 1999 }
}