From VDM specifications to functional prototypes

Abstract This article describes informally a method for translating formal, model-based specifications into functional prototypes. Such prototypes can be used to validate software system specifications in the very early stages of the design process. We show how to translate the executable subset of the Vienna Development Method (VDM) language into Lazy ML, establishing the translation schemes and requirements needed for an automated translation process. Here we are not concerned with implicit specifications, but indicate, in places, what has to be done for such specifications to be automatically translated into a functional program. A small example—part of a translation system from VDM to LML—gives the reader a good idea of the power of the approach.