Formal description techniques for distributed computing systems: the challenges for the 1990's

Initially FDTs where developed within IS0 and CCITT for specification, at a high-level of abstraction, of distributed systems. Research is now being performed on the use of FDTs to support the complete implementation trajectory. In this paper we discuss a number of such research activities that are conducted within the framework of the Lotosphere project(*). The paper discusses aspects of design methodology, correctness preserving transformation, the reflection of design criteria, the role of pre-defined specification and implementation constructs, and formal approaches to conformance testing. Furthermore some insight is given in the development of a comprehensive toolset that supports these aspects of design methodology. The paper concludes with some experience obtained from the application of these methods and tools to some realistic pilot implementations: an ISDN and MHS application and a Transaction Processing application.