PSL: A semantic domain for flow models

摘要

Flow models underlie popular programming languages and many graphical behavior specification tools. However, their semantics is typically ambiguous, causing miscommunication between modelers and unexpected implementation results. This article introduces a way to disambiguate common flow modeling constructs, by expressing their semantics as constraints on runtime sequences of behavior execution. It also shows that reduced ambiguity enables more powerful modeling abstractions, such as partial behavior specifications. The runtime representation considered in this paper uses the Process Specification Language (PSL), which is defined in first-order logic, making it amenable to automated reasoning. The activity diagrams of the Unified Modeling Language are used for example flow models.