On the Formal Specification and Derivation of Relational Database Applications

Abstract The development of database applications is usually carried out informally. The derivation of database programs directly from formal specifications is a well known and unsolved problem. Most of the previous work on the area either tried to solve the problem too generally or was restricted to some trivial aspects, for example deriving the database structure and/or simple operations. However difficult in general, deriving relational database applications directly from Z specifications satisfying a certain set of rules (the method) is not arduous. With appropriate tool support, writing formal specifications according to the method and deriving the corresponding relational database programs can be straightforward. Moreover, it should produce code which is standardized and thus easier to understand and maintain. This paper summarizes material from my Ph.D. thesis [4]. Therefore, it is a pleasure to thank again my supervisors, Ray Welland and David Harper. The financial support for the Ph.D. course was provided by CAPES (Brazilian Federal Agency for Postgraduate Education) and by UFPE (Federal University of Pernambuco).

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