The Vienna Development Method: The Meta-Language

Peter Lucas (auth.), Dines Bjørner, Cliff B. Jones (eds.)3540087664, 9783540087663

he Vienna Development Method (VDM) is one of the longest-established Formal Methods for the development of computer-based systems. Originating in work done at IBM’s Vienna Laboratory[1] in the 1970s, it has grown to include a group of techniques and tools based on a formal specification language – the VDM Specification Language (VDM-SL).

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Table of contents :
On the formalization of programming languages: Early history and main approaches….Pages 1-23
Programming in the meta-language: A tutorial….Pages 24-217
The meta-language: A reference manual….Pages 218-277
Denotational semantics of goto: An exit formulation and its relation to continuations….Pages 278-304
A formal definition of ALGOL 60 as described in the 1975 modified report….Pages 305-336
Software abstraction principles: Tutorial examples of an operating system command language specification and a PL/I-like on-condition language definition….Pages 337-374
References & bibliography….Pages 375-382