Specification patterns from research to industry: A case study in service-based applications

TitleSpecification patterns from research to industry: A case study in service-based applications
Publication TypeConference Paper
Year of Publication2012
AuthorsBianculli, D., C. Ghezzi, C. Pautasso, and P. Senti
Conference NameProc. of the 34th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE2012), SeIP track
Pages968-976
MonthJune
Conference LocationZurich, Switzerland
Keywordsbanking case study, formal specification, industry research, pattern matching, real-time systems, requirements specifications, service contracts, software engineering, specification patterns, Web services
Abstract

Specification patterns have proven to help developers to state precise system requirements, as well as formalize them by means of dedicated specification languages. Most of the past work has focused its applicability area to the specification of concurrent and real-time systems, and has been limited to a research setting. In this paper we present the results of our study on specification patterns for service-based applications (SBAs). The study focuses on industrial SBAs in the banking domain. We started by performing an extensive analysis of the usage of specification patterns in published research case studies - representing almost ten years of research in the area of specification, verification, and validation of SBAs. We then compared these patterns with a large body of specifications written by our industrial partner over a similar time period. The paper discusses the outcome of this comparison, indicating that some needs of the industry, especially in the area of requirements specification languages, are not fully met by current software engineering research.

DOI10.1109/ICSE.2012.6227125
Citation Key6227125
Refereed DesignationRefereed