Categorical concepts for parameterized partial specifications

Abstract

Categorical constructions inherent to a theory of algebras with strict partial operations are presented and exploited to provide a categorical deduction calculus for conditional existence equations and an alternative definition of such algebras based on the notion of syntactic categories. A compact presentation of the structural theory of parameterized (partial) specifications is given using the categorical approach. This theory is shown to be suitable for providing initial semantics as well as the compositionality results necessary for the definition of specification languages like ACT ONE and ACT TWO