A knowledge-based specification system.

Abstract

One of the most important causes for the vast cost of software development is inconsistency and incompleteness, and inaccurate estimation of software development cost. This dissertation presents a paradigm for specifying systems with a knowledge-based approach. The specification activities are further divided into domain customization, specification documentation and specification examination. The domain knowledge in the domain customization step is used to check for the consistency and completeness of the specification. Theorem-proving and prototyping techniques are used to conduct the consistency and completeness checking. A modified Functional Point method is used to estimate the potential effort needed. A natural language specification is generated in the specification documentation step. A prototype of the knowledge-based approach is implemented to show its feasibility. The results from the prototype are satisfactory.