Premium
Towards the formal specification of an OPS5 production system architecture
Author(s) -
Gold David I.,
Plant R. T.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
international journal of intelligent systems
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.291
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1098-111X
pISSN - 0884-8173
DOI - 10.1002/int.4550090806
Subject(s) - correctness , computer science , formal specification , notation , formal methods , specification language , software engineering , programming language , system requirements specification , language of temporal ordering specification , formal language , formal verification , grammar systems theory , production (economics) , artificial intelligence , linguistics , philosophy , generative grammar , emergent grammar , economics , macroeconomics
The article presents a formal specification for many important aspects of the OPS5 production systems framework. the article illustrates how an abstract formal specification of a production system can be created and the benefits this provides to those involved in the development of knowledge‐based systems. the formal specification is preceded by an informal specification of a production system upon which the formal model is based and the development is illustrated through the use of concrete examples. the notation used is that of “Z” (J. M. Spivey, The Z Notation , Prentice‐Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1990), a language based upon typed set theory. This language has been used to success in the specification of critical conventional software systems (I. Hayes, Technical Monograph PRG‐46, Oxford University Computing Laboratory, Oxford, England, 1985) and which is formal enough to allow for the creation of rigorous specifications, yet is of a form that makes these specifications “readable.” the aim of the article is to show that formal techniques can be applied to areas of knowledge‐based system development, thus promoting correctness, reliability, and understanding. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.