AMAST Mail 1998
[Prev][Next][Index]

CFP - Computer Communications Special issue on FDTs in Practice

                        Computer Communications
			-----------------------

		Special Issue on Formal Description Techniques in Practice
		----------------------------------------------------------


By the late 80's, some internationalily standardised Formal Description
Techiniques (FDTs) have been defined; some of them are Estelle, LOTOS, SDL,
ASN.1 and TTCN.
There are different approaches to FDTs; they include Process Algebra (CCS,
LOTOS, etc), Extended Finite State
Machine (SDL, Estelle, etc), Set Theory (Z, VDM etc) and other standard
notations (ASN.1, TTCN)
After more than a decade of active research into FDT developments and their
applications to distributed systems and communication protocols,
there still seems to be a lack of industrial take-ups of FDTs.
Some of the barriers to their uses by developers in industry include 
developers' lack of confidence in FDTs, industrial strength tools not being
too readily available, the lack of information on potential benefits in
using FDTs, and the fact that there are not many reports on success stories,
experiences (both good and bad), and the application of FDTs to real-life
complex examples, etc.

However, compared with traditional methods, FDTs do offer a number of
advantages, for instances : 
specification can be verified; implementation can be automated; test cases
can be generated, saving many man-hours in designing a test suite; and a
more secured system can be developed. 
A couple of FDTs are gaining industrial acceptance.

This special issue will focus on FDTs in practice.
It aims to help overcome some of the barriers mentioned above
and narrow the gap between the 
state-of the-art research on FDTs and state-of-the-practice.
It will address the application of FDTs to the entire development cycle of
communication protocols and distributed systems (specification,
verification, testing, implementation, and performance evaluation).

Papers are solicited from scientists, researchers, experts, practising
engineers both in the industry and from academia.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to :

* Empirical and field studies : Studies, both successful and unsuccessful,
highlighting what can be learned from the experiences

* Success Stories : The successful uses of FDTs in specifying, verifying,
implemenating, testing, and evaluating the performance of non-trivial systems.

* Integration :  How the use of FDTs is integrated into traditional method
of developing system ? 

* Comparative and evaluative studies : Reports on analysing and comparing
the strengths and weaknesses of different FDTs

* Transition of FDT technology to industry :  Ways in which research results
can be transitioned into practice

* Initiatives : New initiatives to increase practitioners' confidence and
interest in FDTs, to narrow the gap between theory and practice, and to
enhance better understanding of the role of FDTs in developing large systems.

* Costs : The financial consequences and implications in using FDTs

* Tools : Tools of industrial strength that can support non-trivial applications

* Education and Training : Experiences in teaching FDTs to postgraduate
students, software engineers, practitioners, and managers


Important Dates

January 15th, 1999 : Due date for 4 copies of full manuscripts

June 31st, 1999 : Notification of Acceptance/rejection

August 31st 1999 : Due date for final version

December 1999 : Tentative date for publication of this special issue.

Please include author names, affiliations, addresses and e-mail addresses
on the manuscripts and submit four copies to the guest editor of this 
special issue:

Dr Richard Lai
Department of Mathematics
Universiti Brunei Darussalam
Bandar Seri Begawan
Brunei Darussalam

Email : lai@ubd.edu.bn OR lai@latcs1.oz.au

Alternatively, a postscript file of the paper can be sent by e-mail to :

rlai@lai.cs.latrobe.edu.au
[ AMAST Mail 1998 | Latest Update | AMAST Mail Meta-Index | AMAST ]