Formal specification of software requirements has been recognised as an essential ingredient to improve the quality of delivered code. When integrated with the structuring mechanisms of object-orientation, formal specifications can provide a powerful tool for the software developer. However, the formal specification of particularly large systems needs to be supported by tools which assist the specifier or reader of the specification either to understand and/or to reason about a specification. The simplest form ofreasoning is that of type checking. This paper develops a simple but useful set of rules for type checking the object-oriented formal specification language Object-Z. Although type checkers exist for Z, at present none exists for Object-Z. The lack of a type checker for Object-Z is a hinderence to a wider and more consistent use of this specification language as an integral component in developing high-quality software products.
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