An executable specification language based on message sequence charts

Abstract

Message Sequence Charts (MSCs) are an appealing visual formalism that play a useful role in the early design stages of reactive systems such as telecommunication protocols. They also constitute one of the behavioral diagram types in the UML framework [4]. MSCs are usually intended to capture system requirements. However there is no standard relationship between such requirements and an executable specification . Here we deploy MSCs instead as refinements of actions at the executable level by formulating a state-based model called Cyclic Transaction Processes. We provide a transition system semantics for the CTP model as also a detailed example to illustrate its modeling and behavioral features. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003.