Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Semantics-Based Composition for Textual Requirements

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Aspect-Oriented Requirements Engineering

Abstract

Most current aspect composition mechanisms rely on syntactic references to the base modules or wildcard mechanisms quantifying over such syntactic references in pointcut expressions. This leads to the well-known problem of pointcut fragility. Semantics-based composition mechanisms aim to alleviate such fragility by focusing on the meaning and intention of the composition, hence avoiding strong syntactic dependencies to the base modules. In this chapter we present one such mechanism—requirements description language (RDL)—for textual requirements. The RDL enriches the natural language textual requirements with semantic information. Composition specifications are written based on these semantics rather than requirements syntax, hence providing improved means for expressing the intentionality of the composition, in turn facilitating semantics-based reasoning about aspect influences and trade-offs.

This chapter is extensively based on the work initially published in [1].

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    A requirement may contain one or more sentences. We do not need to number each sentence separately. A sentence may have one or more clauses.

  2. 2.

    Though this particular work focuses on English, the principle of verb classification is independent of language [16]. The same approach may be applied to other languages and a similar (though not identical) classification will result.

  3. 3.

    The full schema for the RDL and meaning of each attribute is available from [21].

References

  1. R. Chitchyan, A. Rashid, P. Rayson, R. Waters. Semantics-based composition for aspect-oriented requirements engineering. in AOSD ’07 (ACM, New York, NY, 2007), pp. 36–48

    Google Scholar 

  2. A. Kellens, K. Mens, J. Brichau, K. Gybels, Managing the evolution of aspect-oriented software with model-based pointcuts, in European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP). LNCS, vol. 4067 (Springer, 2006), pp. 501–525

    Google Scholar 

  3. P. Greenwood, T.T. Bartolomei, E. Figueiredo, M. Dósea, A.F. Garcia, N. Cacho, C. Sant’Anna, S. Soares, P. Borba, U. Kulesza, A. Rashid, On the impact of aspectual decompositions on design stability: an empirical study, in ECOOP, 2007, pp. 176–200

    Google Scholar 

  4. D. Stein, S. Hanenberg, R. Unland, Expressing different conceptual models of join point selections in aspect-oriented design, in AOSD ’06 (ACM, New York, NY), 2006, pp. 15–26

    Google Scholar 

  5. R. Knöll, M. Mezini, Pegasus: first steps toward a naturalistic programming language, in OOPSLA, Onward Track (ACM, 2006)

    Google Scholar 

  6. C.V. Lopes, P. Dourish, D.H. Lorenz, K.J. Lieberherr, Beyond AOP: towards naturalistic programming, in International Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications (OOPSLA) (ACM, 2003), pp. 198–207

    Google Scholar 

  7. K. Ostermann, M. Mezini, C. Bockisch, Expressive pointcuts for increased modularity, in European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP). LNCS, vol. 3586 (Springer, 2005), pp. 214–240

    Google Scholar 

  8. A. Moreira, J. Araujo, A. Rashid, A concern-oriented requirements engineering model, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE). LNCS, vol. 3520 (2005), pp 293–308

    Google Scholar 

  9. A. Moreira, J. Araujo, A. Rashid, Multi-dimensional separation of concerns in requirements engineering, in International Conference on Requirements Engineering (RE) (IEEE CS, 2005), pp. 285–296

    Google Scholar 

  10. S. Sutton, I. Rouvellou, Modeling of software concerns in Cosmos, in International Conference on Aspect-Oriented Software Development (AOSD), 2002, pp. 127–133

    Google Scholar 

  11. P.L. Tarr, H. Ossher, W.H. Harrison, S.M. Sutton, N degrees of separation: multi-dimensional separation of concerns, in ICSE (ACM, 1999), pp. 107–119

    Google Scholar 

  12. E. Baniassad, S. Clarke, Theme: an approach for aspect-oriented analysis and design, in International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), 2004, pp. 158–167

    Google Scholar 

  13. A. Sampaio, R. Chitchyan, A. Rashid, P. Rayson, EA-Miner: a tool for automating aspect-oriented requirements identification, in International Conference on Automated Software Engineering (ASE), 2005, pp. 352–355

    Google Scholar 

  14. I. Sommerville, Software Engineering, 7th edn. (Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 2004)

    Google Scholar 

  15. WordNet (2006), http://wordnet.princeton.edu/

  16. R.M.W. Dixon, A Semantic Approach to English Grammar, 2nd edn. (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005)

    Google Scholar 

  17. K.L. Hale, S.J. Keyser, A View from the Middle (MIT, Center for Cognitive Science, Cambridge, MA, 1987)

    Google Scholar 

  18. B. Levin, English Verb Classes and Alternations: A Preliminary Investigation (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1993)

    Google Scholar 

  19. R. Chitchyan, S.S. Khan, A. Rashid, Modelling and tracing composition semantics in requirements, in Early Aspects 2006: Traceability of Aspects in the Early Life Cycle Workshop (Held at AOSD’06), Bonn, Germany, 2006

    Google Scholar 

  20. R. Chitchyan, A. Rashid, Tracing requirements interdependency semantics, in Early Aspects 2006: Traceability of Aspects in the Early Life Cycle Workshop Early Aspects WS (Held at AOSD’06), Bonn, Germany, 2006

    Google Scholar 

  21. R. Chitchyan, A. Sampaio, A. Rashid, P. Sawyer, S.S. Khan, Initial version of aspect-oriented requirements engineering model, in Lancaster AOSD-Europe report (D36): AOSD-Europe-ULANC-17, 2006

    Google Scholar 

  22. J.F. Allen, Maintaining knowledge about temporal intervals. Commun. ACM 26(11), 832–843 (1983)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  23. I. Jacobson, P.-W. Ng, Aspect-Oriented Software Development with Use Cases (Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 2005)

    Google Scholar 

  24. A. Rashid, A. Moreira, J. Araujo, Modularisation and composition of aspectual requirements, in AOSD (ACM, 2003), pp. 11–20

    Google Scholar 

  25. P. Rayson, Wmatrix (2006), http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/ucrel/wmatrix/

  26. R.W. Waters, MRAT: a multidimensional requirements analysis tool, MSc. Dissertation, Lancaster University, Lancashire, 2006

    Google Scholar 

  27. R. Chitchyan, P. Greenwood, A. Sampaio, A. Rashid, A. Garcia, L. Fernandes da Silva. Semantic vs. syntactic compositions in aspect-oriented requirements engineering: an empirical study, in Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Aspect-Oriented Software Development (AOSD 2009) (ACM, Charlottesville, VA), 2–6 Mar 2009, pp. 149–160

    Google Scholar 

  28. L. Silva, A guided strategy the modeling aspect-oriented requirements (in Portuguese), PhD, Rio de Janeiro, Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Brazil, 2006

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK

    Ruzanna Chitchyan

Authors
  1. Ruzanna Chitchyan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ruzanna Chitchyan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal

    Ana Moreira

  2. University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom

    Ruzanna Chitchyan

  3. Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal

    João Araújo

  4. University of Lancaster, Lancaster, United Kingdom

    Awais Rashid

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Chitchyan, R. (2013). Semantics-Based Composition for Textual Requirements. In: Moreira, A., Chitchyan, R., Araújo, J., Rashid, A. (eds) Aspect-Oriented Requirements Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38640-4_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38640-4_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-38639-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-38640-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation