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European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming

ECOOP 1988: ECOOP ’88 European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming pp 78–92Cite as

GSBL: An Algebraic Specification Language Based on Inheritance

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 322))

Abstract

At the specification level, inheritance can be defined as subtyping by means of order sorted specifications [GM85]. Subtyping is, obviously, a very important notion, allowing not only to work with a non rigid type structure, but also providing an adequate basis for error handling in algebraic specifications. However, in our opinion, subtyping and order sorted specifications do not play the same rûle as inheritance in program design. In this paper, we will present a hierarchical organization for specifications, based on a different concept of inheritance which, we think, corresponds, methodologically, to the usual inheritance relation defined at the programming level. This new relation allows to work with incomplete specifications with several levels of detail and, as a side-effect, it may play the rûle of genericity. The use of this notion of inheritance is shown by means of the GSBL specification language built around this new concept, whose use and formal semantics are sketched.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultat d’Informàtica, Universitat Politènica de Catalunya, Pau Gargallo 5, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    S. Clerici & F. Orejas

Authors
  1. S. Clerici
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  2. F. Orejas
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1080, Blindern, N-0316, Oslo 3, Norway

    Stein Gjessing  & Kristen Nygaard  & 

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© 1988 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Clerici, S., Orejas, F. (1988). GSBL: An Algebraic Specification Language Based on Inheritance. In: Gjessing, S., Nygaard, K. (eds) ECOOP ’88 European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming. ECOOP 1988. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 322. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45910-3_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45910-3_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-50053-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45910-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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