Domain System StateCharts : The Good , the Bad , and the Ugly

This paper presents the results of case studies evaluating our method of unifying use cases (UCs) to derive a unified StateChart (SC) model of the behavior of the domain system (DS) of a proposed computer-based system. An evaluation of the unification method, the obtained SC model of the DS, the method’s and model’s feedback on the UCs themselves, and how the method is used in requirements engineering practice was carried out by examining 46 software requirements specifications produced by 149 upper-year undergraduate and graduate students. The results of our studies independently confirm some of the benefits of building a unified SC mentioned in the works of Glinz; Whittle and Schumann; and Harel, Kugler, and Pnueli, who have developed formal treatments of unifying UCs using SCs and, in two cases, have built tools implementing their treatments.

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