Integrating status and event phenomena in formal specifications of interactive systems

Full reference:

G. Abowd and A. Dix (1994). Integrating status and event phenomena in formal specifications of interactive systems. SIGSOFT'94, Ed. D. Wile. New Orleans, ACM Press. 44-52.

http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/users/dixa/papers/sigsoft94

You can download the full paper in PDF (184K) or from ftp://ftp.cc.gatech.edu/pub/people/abowd/papers/sigsoft94.ps.Z (compressed postscript, 112K)

See also Alan's pages on status-event analysis

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the appropriateness of formal specification languages for the description of user interface phenomena. Specifically, we are concerned with the distinction between continuously available information, which we call status, and atomic, non-persistent information, which we call events. We propose a hybrid model and notation to address status and event phenomena symmetrically. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this model for designing and understandingmixed control interaction, an especially important topic in the design of multi-user systems.

Keywords: formal specification, interactive system design, multi-user systems, mixed-control interaction