From Object-Z Specification to Groovy Implementation

Abstract

So far, valuable research studies have been conducted on mapping notations of object-oriented speci cation, such as Object-Z, in di erent object-oriented programming languages, such as C++. However, the results of selecting JVM-based programming languages for mapping have not covered most of basic Object-Z structures. In this paper, the Groovy language, as a dynamic JVM-based language, is selected to overcome some of the existing limitations. As the main contribution, the rules required for mapping Object-Z speci cations to execute Groovy code are introduced. The proposed rules cover notions such as multiple inheritance, inverse speci cation of functions, functions de ned on generic de nitions, and free-type constructors. Previous methods have not covered these notions for the formal development of program from object-oriented speci cations, regardless of the selected formal speci cation language and target programming language. In addition, in this paper, the parallel composition construct is mapped to a parallel, executable code to improve the faithfulness of the nal code to the initial speci cation. A mapping rule for the class union construct is introduced, which has not yet been provided for any JVMbased language. Unlike previous works, instead of presenting the mapping rules in terms of natural languages, they are presented in terms of some formal mapping rules.