Annealing and data decomposition in VDM

Abstract

VDM ++ is a formal specification language derived from VDMSL and incorporating object-oriented structuring based on language extensions which owe much to SmallTalk (though features have been added to cater for specifying reactive real-time systems). Research on the language has been in progress since about 1991[1][2], but it is only recently that papers have begun to be published on the subject[3][4][5].Several more-detailed papers are in preparation. In particular, a paper describing the concept of annealing in some detail will be ready shortly.Our attention has recently been drawn to the paper by Jian Lu [6] which describes a process of data decomposition in VDM bearing some relationship to our concept of annealing. The present paper is intended to give an introduction to the annealing concept, and to show how it relates to the work of Jian Lu.