Introducing formal notations in the development of object-based distributed applications

Although the benefits of the introduction of formal approaches in software development are well-recognized, in the case of distributed object-based applications, this introduction is not straightforward. We tackle this problem using currently available technology in a pragmatic manner and on several fronts. The first of these is by semantically strengthening the standard notion of interface into a contract and then using this contract notion at different structural levels; the second is by defining a life-cycle model incorporating architectural decomposition and concurrent development of the resulting components whose relations are specified as contracts; the third is by using standardized FDTs in the design of the more critical components. We show how these different fronts are connected and we illustrate briefly how the formalisations introduced can be used to advantage in the testing and prototyping activities of the life-cycle.