Synopsis
Formal specification and rapid prototyping are two software engineering techniques currently gaining popularity as means of improving software development. However, existing methods fail to cater for the development of user interfaces, an increasingly important part of any software product. This book describes an extension to an existing FORMAL method to allow it to design aspects of user interface. The extension (called SPI) is unusual in that it was itself formally specified and prototyped before implementation. SPI addresses the dialogue design aspect of creating a user interface (arguably one of the more difficult tasks). It divides dialogue into two parts - an outline of significant events which occur and their order, distinct from the effect of each event - with separate but related languages for each part. Both languages are formal, and both can be executed to provide a prototype. The system has been implemented for specification of dialogues (using a language called "me too") and for their implementation (in the programming language C).
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