This lecture introduces a theory for the identification, modeling, and formalization of two complementary views onto software and software intensive systems called the problem view and the solution view. The problem view addresses requirements engineering for describing the overall system functionality from the users’ point of view aiming at the specification of the functional requirements of multi-functional systems in terms of their functions as well as their mutual dependencies. This view leads to a function or service hierarchy. The solution view essentially addresses the design phase to decompose systems into logical architectures formed by networks of interactive components specified by their interface behavior.

Both views are closely related and are helpful for the structured modeling of multi-functional systems during their development. We show how the two complementary views work and fit together as major milestones in the early phases of software and systems development. We, in particular, base our approach on the FOCUS theory for describing interface behavior and the structuring of systems into components. We give a theoretical treatment of both views by extending the FOCUS model and its interface theory accordingly.
 

Wednesday, April 13th, 3:00 pm,  ISIS Gray room (1st Floor), 1025 16th Avenue South

Bio:

Prof. Dr. Manfred Broy
Fakultät für Informatik
Technische Universität München
80290 München

Manfred Broy is a full professor for computer science at the Technische Universität München.
His research interests are software and systems engineering comprising both theoretical and practical aspects. This includes system models, specification and refinement of system com-ponents, specification techniques, development methods and verification. He is leading a research group working in a number of industrial projects that try to apply mathematically based techniques and to combine practical approaches to software engineering with mathematical rigor. There the main topics are ad hoc networks, software architectures, componentware, software development processes and graphical description techniques. In his group the CASE tool AutoFocus was developed.

Throughout his academic career Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Broy has maintained strong contacts with industry, through consultancy, teaching and collaborative research projects and he has published more than 330 scientific publications. His main field is Software & Systems Engineering and his current research interests are: the System Development Processes and Tool Support, Concurrent and Embedded Systems, Theoretical Foundation of Informatics, IT Security and Requirements Engineering.