Description
Springer Come LetS Play Scenario-Based Programming Using Lscs And The Play-Engine 2003 Edition by David Harel Rami Marelly
This book does not tell a story. Instead it is about stories. Or rather in technical terms it is about scenarios. Scenarios of system behavior. It con centrates on reactive systems be they software or hardware or combined computer-embedded systems including distributed and real-time systems. We propose a different way to program such systems centered on inter object scenario-based behavior. The book describes a language two tech niques and a supporting tool. The language is a rather broad extension of live sequence charts (LSCs) the original version of which was proposed in 1998 by W. Damm and the first-listed author of this book. The first of the two techniques called play-in is a convenient way to 'play in' scenario based behavior directly from the system's graphical user interface (QUI). The second technique play-out makes it possible to execute or 'play out' the behavior on the QUI as if it were programmed in a conventional intra object state-based fashion. All this is implemented in full in our tool the Play-Engine. The book can be viewed as offering improvements in some ofthe phases of known system development life cycles e.g. requirements capture and anal ysis prototyping and testing. However there is a more radical way to view the book namely as proposing an alternative way to program reactivity which being based on inter-object scenarios is a lot closer to how people think about systems and their behavior. Table of contents : I. Prelude.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Setting the Stage.- 3. An Example-Driven Overview.- 4. The Model: Object Systems.- II. Foundations.- 5. The Language: Live Sequence Charts (LSCs).- 6. The Tool: The Play-Engine.- III. Basic Behavior.- 7. Variables and Symbolic Messages.- 8. Assignments and Implemented Functions.- 9. Conditions.- 10. Branching and Subcharts.- IV. Advanced Behavior: Multiple Charts.- 11. Executing Multiple Charts.- 12. Testing with Existential Charts.- V. Advanced Behavior: Richer Constructs.- Loops.- Transition to Design.- Classes and Symbolic Instances.- Time and Real-Time Systems.- Forbidden Elements.- VI Enhancing the Play-Engine.- Smart Play-Out (with H. Kugler).- Inside and Outside the Play-Engine.- A Play-Engine Aware GUI Editor.- Future Research Directions.- VII Appendices.- A. Formal Semantics of LSCs.- A.1 System Model and Events.- A.2 LSC Specification.- A.3 Operational Semantics.- B. XML Description of a GUI Application.- C. The Play-Engine Interface.- C.1 Visual Basic Code.- D. The GUI Application Interface.- D.1 Visual Basic Code.- E. The Structure of a (Recorded) Run.- References.