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From: collin@hpindda.cup.hp.com (Collin Park)
Newsgroups: comp.specification
Subject: VDM vs Z notation?
Message-ID: <48050001@hpindda.cup.hp.com>
Date: 30 May 91 15:10:08 GMT
Organization: HP Information Networks, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 29

Greetings,
I posted the following on comp.software-eng, and someone suggested I post
here also, where I probably should have posted it in the first place?
Unless I hear otherwise, I'll post the summary in comp.software-eng and
just put a pointer in this notesgroup.  Thanks for your input...
collin
===============================================================================
Anyone have any comments on the utility of Z vs VDM?  Several articles
using the Z notation appeared in last September's IEEE SOFTWARE magazine,
and reviews of two books ("Systematic Software Development Using VDM, 2/e"
and "Z: An Introduction to Formal Methods") appeared in the last two 
issues.  

I understand that Z has been applied to some parts of IBM's CICS, and
that it has also been used to specify a real-time kernel.  (The latter
is especially of interest to me, since many programming aids seem to
lack facilities for state-oriented or event-driven design.)  

On the other hand, I also hear that the UK is in some way standardizing
VDM, and some say that VDM is the notation best suited to industrial 
application.

Any thoughts, opinions, case histories...?  Please email me and I will
summarize here.  Thanks.

Collin Park

collin@hpinddu.cup.hp.com
...!hplabs!hpinddu!collin