<%@ page language="java" contentType="text/html" %> <%-- Include common initialisation code --%> <%@ include file="/arch/common.jsp" %> <%-- The current tab --%> <% String currentTab = "Research"; %> <%-- Content of navigation pane --%> <%@ include file="nav.jsp" %> <% showCurrentLink=true; %> <%-- Current navigation location --%> <% String currentNav = "Reports and Theses"; %> <%-- Include the code for the document header --%> <%@ include file="/arch/header.jsp" %>

Research Report CS-RR-199

<%-- Include the code for the lines and navigation --%> <%@ include file="/arch/middle.jsp" %>

I.D. Craig, Formal Techniques in the Development of Blackboard Systems (November 1, 1991).

Abstract

This paper describes a formal method for the development of blackboard systems. The method is based, in part, on the informal one. Apart from the difference in emphasis (formal rather than informal), the new approach rests upon a formal definition of the architecture. The essential idea is that the mapping between the formal model of the problem domain ( which is intended to be similar to the formal models proposed by, for example, Hayes) and the blackboard shell should be supported by formal proofs of correctness in a way identical to formal software engineering. The control structure for the resulting system is derived by considering the blackboard as being transformed from an initial state to a set of potential final states. Each of the final states represents one of the possible answers that the system may produce. The paths from initial to final states can be treated either as traces or by regarding the entire control problem as formalizable in a temporal logic.

Download

cs-rr-199.ps.gz

<%-- Include the code for the document footer --%> <%@ include file="/arch/footer.jsp" %>