Abstract
Active database systems are a current focus of considerable research interest, as a means of supporting a range of tasks including constraint enforcement, real-time applications and derived data management. However, although many different proposals have been made for active rule systems, such proposals are normally described in an informal manner, which makes it difficult to understand how different proposals differ or how a set of rules will behave. This paper compares a range of formal specification methods, considering how suitable they are for describing active database functionality, and then shows how the model-based notation Object-Z, an object-oriented extension of Z, can be used to specify the semantics of a representative active database system, namely Starburst. © 1995.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 47-61 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Information and Software Technology |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 1995 |
Keywords
- active database
- active rules
- formal specification
- Object-Z
- Starburst
- Z