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An Integrated Framework for Analysing, Simulating and Testing UML Models

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Formal Methods: Foundations and Applications (SBMF 2024)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 15403))

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Abstract

UML is widely adopted for modelling object-oriented software systems, including diagrams that cover the several facets of the entire development life cycle. Approaches to formal semantics of UML tend to concentrate on individual diagrams and, so far, no complete, standard, semantics is available. Here, we explore a different path and define a natural-language semantics for a component UML model that embodies state machines and composite structure diagrams. We then integrate with the NAT2TEST strategy to provide means for analysis (via model checking and theorem proving), simulation and testing. The integration is based on a systematic process (mapping rules), and its soundness has been validated considering an independent reference formal semantics. The developed tool support automates the translation from UML models to natural-language requirements directly based on the proposed mapping rules. We illustrate our contributions and tool support with respect to two case studies: the classical Dijkstra’s dining philosophers problem, and a distributed ring-buffer model.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Link: https://cocotec.io/fdr/manual/cspm/prelude.html#compressions.

  2. 2.

    Link: https://cocotec.io/fdr/manual/examples/index.html#dining-philosophers.

  3. 3.

    Link: https://ttool.telecom-paris.fr/.

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Acknowledgments

This work is partially supported by CNPq grant 432198/2018-0 and also by INES (www.ines.org.br), CNPq grant 465614/2014-0, CAPES grant 88887.136410/2017-00, and FACEPE grants APQ-0399-1.03/17.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Informática, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, 50.740-560, Brazil

    Gustavo Carvalho & Augusto Sampaio

  2. Departamento de Computação, Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil

    José Dihego

Authors
  1. Gustavo Carvalho
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  2. José Dihego
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Correspondence to Gustavo Carvalho .

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  1. Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

    Sidney C. Nogueira

  2. ENSTA Bretagne, Brest, France

    Ciprian Teodorov

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Carvalho, G., Dihego, J., Sampaio, A. (2025). An Integrated Framework for Analysing, Simulating and Testing UML Models. In: C. Nogueira, S., Teodorov, C. (eds) Formal Methods: Foundations and Applications. SBMF 2024. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 15403. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-78116-2_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-78116-2_6

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