High dependability and reliability is a goal of all computer and software systems. Complex systems in general cannot attain high dependability without addressing crucial remaining open issues of software dependability. The need for ultra-high dependability systems increases continually, along with a corresponding increasing need to ensure correctness in system development. Correctness exists where the implemented system is equivalent to the requirements, and where equivalence can be mathematically proven.
The development of a system may begin with the development of a requirements specification, such as a formal specification or an informal specification. A formal specification might be encoded in a high-level language, whereas requirements in the form of an informal specification can be expressed in restricted natural language, “if-then” rules, graphical notations, English language, programming language representations, flowcharts, scenarios, goal-directed requirement documents, or even using semi-formal notations such as unified modeling language (UML) use cases.
Natural language scenarios can be constructed in terms of individual scenarios written in a structured natural language. Different scenarios can be written by different stakeholders of the system, corresponding to the different views the stakeholders have of how the system will perform, including alternative views corresponding to higher or lower levels of abstraction. Natural language scenarios can be generated by a user with or without mechanical or computer aid. The set of natural language scenarios provides the descriptions of actions that occur as the software executes. Some of these actions will be explicit and required, while others can be due to errors arising, or as a result of adapting to changing conditions as the system executes.
For example, if the system involves commanding space satellites, scenarios for that system can include sending commands to the satellites and processing data received in response to the commands. Natural language scenarios might be specific to the technology or application domain to which the natural language scenarios can be applied. A fully automated general purpose approach covering all domains is technically prohibitive to implement in a way that is both complete and consistent. To ensure consistency, the domain of application might be specific-purpose. For example, scenarios for satellite systems might not be applicable as policies for systems that manufacture agricultural chemicals.
After completion of an informal specification that represents domain knowledge, the system is developed. A formal specification is not necessarily used by the developer in the development of a system.
In the development of some systems, computer readable code may be generated. The generated code is typically encoded in a computer language, such as a high-level computer language. Examples of the languages include Java, C, C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS), and Prolog.
One step in creating a system with high dependability and reliability can be verification and validation that the executable system accurately reflects the requirements. Validation of the generated code is sometimes performed through the use of a domain simulator, a very elaborate and costly approach that is computationally intensive. This process of validation via simulation rarely results in an unambiguous result and rarely results in uncontested results among systems analysts. In some examples, a system is validated through parallel mode, shadow mode operations with a human operated system. This approach can be very expensive and exhibit severely limited effectiveness. In some complex systems, this approach leaves vast parts of possible execution paths forever unexplored and unverified.
During the life cycle of a system, requirements typically evolve. Manual change to the system creates a risk of introducing new errors and necessitates retesting and revalidation, which can greatly increase the cost of the system. Often, needed changes are not made due to the cost of verifying/validating consequential changes in the rest of the system. Sometimes, changes can be simply made in the code and not reflected in the specification or design, due to the cost or due to the fact that those who generated the original specification or design are no longer available.
Procedures, considered as the essential steps or actions to achieve a result, can be used for the assembly of materials in factories, for servicing of spacecraft (whether by astronauts, robots, or a combination), for business operation, and for experiments in a laboratory, to name but a few. Procedures can be very complex, involving many interactions, may involve many actions happening in parallel, and may be subject to significant constraints such as the ordering in which activities must happen, the availability of resources, etc. In many complex procedures, human error commonly results in the entire procedure needing to be repeated ab initio. In some cases, such as servicing a spacecraft, recovery from some of the more serious errors that may occur may not be possible.
As a rapidly growing field, autonomic systems (autonomic computing and autonomic communications) is a promising new approach for developing large-scale complex distributed' computer-based systems. In autonomic computing, the needs of large scale systems management has been likened to that of the human autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS, through the self-regulation, is able to effectively monitor, control and regulate the human body without the need for conscious thought. The self-regulation and separation of concerns provides human beings with the ability to concentrate on high level objectives without having to micro-manage the specific details involved.
The vision and metaphor of autonomic computing is to apply the same principles of self-regulation and complexity-hiding to the design of computer-based systems, in the hope that eventually computer systems can achieve the same level of self-regulation as the human ANS. The majority of conventional systems address the “how” of autonomic systems involving the low-level internal implementation, such as defining autonomic managers that together with the component that is to be managed make up an autonomic element to exist in a collaborative autonomic environment to provide self-management of the system. However, these efforts do not directly address the high-level requirements of the systems that drive autonomic systems.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art to produce a system that is a provably correct implementation of agent-oriented specification, with or without autonomic properties, and that assures the consistency of such agent-oriented specifications throughout the implementation, that precludes major discrepancies, and that does not require use of a theorem-prover to establish correctness of the implementation. There is a further need for a convenient way of generating a new system when an agent-oriented specification changes. There is also a need for an automated, mathematics-based process for validation of agent-oriented specification that does not require large computational facilities.