Dave Arnold
Object-oriented software development uses contracts at various levels of abstraction to perform verification and validation activities. We propose the use of an open contract specification language capable of generating constraints which are both observable and enforceable. Such a contract language allows for the specification of stakeholder goals to be ‘traceable down’ to such constraints. Goals can be both functional and non-functional and are supported by scenarios. The satisfaction of a goal consists in evaluating such scenarios. The evaluation of a scenario results in constraints being either passed or failed, as well as metrics to be computed, which can be fed into a user specified evaluation function for further analysis. We have developed a framework that provides an open infrastructure for the specification, observation, and evaluation of scenarios. It is this framework that will be the focus of the presentation.