Papers on the Data Flow Algebra

This page gives details of the publications about the data flow algebra (DFA) which are available.  The other aspects of the DFA, for which there are separate pages, are as follows.

Overview

There are a number of papers (or other publications, but for this purpose they will all be referred to as papers) on DFA that are in a state where it is appropriate to include details here.  This does not necessarily mean that they are complete, since work on the DFA is still on-going, but that they have reached a point where it is appropriate to make the material in them publicly available in this way.  Other papers are being worked on, but are still not complete enough to justify being made publicly available, although some of the material in them may have been released on a strictly limited basis to individual students for the purpose of working on material contained in them.

The approach that has been taken here to presenting the papers is simply to list them in chronological order, with relevant notes for each, but without trying to separate them into categories.  In particular, no distinction is made between those that deal with the formalism itself and those that deal with related tools. although in practice the latter can be picked out very easily by the occurrence of words such as "tool", "WinCASE" or "Eclipse" in the title.

For each paper an abstract is available, and for some (where the original version might be hard to get at, and/or I don't have to worry about copyright restrictions) the full text is available as well, as an Adobe Acrobat pdf file.

The titles of the papers in order are as follows.

Dataflow Algebras as Formal Specifications of Data Flows

This is the original report, that defined the basic concepts of the DFA.

The author is A. J. Cowling, and it was published as a departmental research report, under the reference CS-95-18 (1995).

The abstract is available.
The full text is available (size 87kB), from the department's research report archive.

Using Data Flow Algebra to Analyse the Alternating Bit Protocol

This was the first major case study of using the DFA to be published, and it was significant for showing how a DFA specification could identify a possible failure mode for a system.  Much of the development work on it was done by Martin Nike, who was a PhD student at that stage.

The paper therefore has two authors, A. J. Cowling and M. C. Nike, and it was presented at the First IFIP TC10 International Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Software Engineering, which was held in conjunction with ICSE-18 at Berlin. It is published in Software Engineering for Parallel and Distributed Systems (edited by I. Jelly, I. Gorton & P. Croll), Chapman and Hall for IFIP, London (1996), pages 195 - 207.

The abstract is available.
The published version had to be cut down significantly from the original text, in order to fit page limits, and I could supply a copy of the original text on request.

Dataflow Algebra Specifications of Pipeline Structures

This report dealt with a number of potential problems that had been identified with the material in the original report, and made initial proposals for a publication language for the DFA.  Some of the results which it describes had been developed by Martin Nike as part of the work for his PhD.

The paper therefore has two authors, A. J. Cowling and M. C. Nike, and it was published as a departmental research report, under the reference CS-97-17 (1997).

The abstract is available.
The full text is available (size 115kB), from the department's research report archive.

Using Dataflow Algebra As A Specification Method

This is Martin Nike's PhD thesis, dated May 2000 and accepted by the University of Sheffield.  Its principal contribution was the development of a proof of the reconstruction theorem for DFA specifications, as described in the abstract, but it also clarified some aspects of the semantics of DFA specifications.

Although the work was carried out under supervision, M. C. Nike is the sole author (as is the normal practice for PhD theses).

The abstract is available (along with details of a few typographical errors in the full text).
The full text is available (size about 843kB), from the department's PhD thesis archive.

Linking Dataflow Algebra with the CaDiZ Tool

This is the dissertation produced by Christopher Thomson for his third year individual project, in which he developed the first version of the DFATool.

Although the work was carried out under supervision, C. D. Thomson is the sole author (as is the department's normal practice for individual project dissertations).  The dissertation can be referred to as 3rd Year Dissertation, Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, June 2001.

The abstract is available, both here and (since it is included in the part of the department's student dissertation archive that is globally online), from the departmental page for this dissertation.
The full text is available (size about 330kB).
 

Supporting Dataflow Algebra within WinCASE

This is the dissertation produced by Adam Wyles for his third year individual project, in which he developed a version of the WinCASE Tool that would support DFA.

Although the work was carried out under supervision, A. W. Wyles is the sole author (as is the department's normal practice for individual project dissertations).  The dissertation can be referred to as 3rd Year Dissertation, Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, June 2001.

The abstract is available here.  Although this dissertation is included in the department's student dissertation archive, it is not one of the dissertations that the department has selected for online global publication, and so is only directly accessible from within the campus, where its abstract can also be accessed from the departmental page for this dissertation.

Similarly, the full text is only available online from within the campus (size about 535kB);  for external readers I could supply a copy of it on request.

Design Models and the Complexity of the Testing Problem for Distributed Systems

This paper was the first to try to link the DFA model with that of CSXMS, by using a DFA specification to reduce the complexity of the testing problem for systems that are modelled in terms of CSXMS.

The authors are J. Aguado and A. J. Cowling.  The paper was published in the proceedings of the Workshop on the  Semantic Foundations of Engineering Design Languages (edited by G. Luettgen, M. Mendler & F. Maraninchi), pages 119 - 137.  This workshop was held in Grenoble on 14th April 2002, as a satellite workshop to the ETAPS joint conferences.

The abstract is available.
The full text is not publically available electronically, but I could supply a copy of it on request.

A Simplified Abstract Syntax for the Dataflow Algebra

This report describes two significant changes to the DFA.  One is that it discusses the issue of renaming the syntactic and semantic levels of detail, and explains why the names event layer and computation layer will be used from now on.  The other is that it describes an abstract syntax for the DFA that is simpler than the version used previously, in that it employs what is described as a single-domain model, and it compares this with the multiple-domain model that had previously been proposed.

The author is A. J. Cowling, and it was published as a departmental research report, under the reference CS-02-09 (2002).

The abstract is available.
The full text is available (size 359kB), from the department's research report archive.

Implementing Sequence Diagrams within the WinCASE Framework

This is the dissertation produced by Martin Denton for his third year individual project, in which he extended the version of the WinCASE Tool produced by Adam Wyles so that it would support the construction of sequence diagrams, with the aim of generating DFA specifications from them.

Although the work was carried out under supervision, M. J. Denton is the sole author (as is the department's normal practice for individual project dissertations).  The dissertation can be referred to as 3rd Year Dissertation, Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, June 2003.

The abstract is available here.  Although this dissertation is included in the department's student dissertation archive, it is not one of the dissertations that the department has selected for online global publication, and so is only directly accessible from within the campus, where its abstract can also be accessed from the departmental page for this dissertation.

Similarly, the full text is only available online from within the campus (size about 442kB);  for external readers I could supply a copy of it on request.

The Computational Layer Enhancement of the Dataflow Algebra

This is the dissertation produced by Julieta Araos for her MSc project, in which she developed the concepts of the computation layer for the DFA, in two ways.  One way was to carry out a case study of a system to partially meet the requirements of Kemmerer's Library problem, so as to produce both a whole Z specification for this system as a reference, and the code that would need to appear in the computation layer in order for it to generate a (hopefully equivalent) Z specification.  The other way was to extend the version of the DFATool produced by Chrisopher Thompson, so that it could support the revised requirements for the structure of a computation layer.

Although the work was carried out under supervision, J. F. Araos is the sole author (as is the department's normal practice for MSc dissertations).  The dissertation can be referred to as MSc Dissertation, Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, September 2003.

The abstract is available here.  Although this dissertation is included in the department's student dissertation archive, it is not one of the dissertations that the department has selected for online global publication, and so is only directly accessible from within the campus, where its abstract can also be accessed from the departmental page for this dissertation.

Similarly, the full text is only available online from within the campus (size about 691kB);  for external readers I could supply a copy of it on request.

Analysing DFA Tool and CADiZ for Future Integration

This is the dissertation produced by Peter Langton for his MSc project, in which he investigated the possibility of linking the DFATool with CaDiZ, to facilitate the processing of computation layer specifications written in Z.

Although the work was carried out under supervision, P. Langton is the sole author (as is the department's normal practice for MSc dissertations).  The dissertation can be referred to as MSc Dissertation, Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, September 2004.

The abstract is available here.  Although this dissertation is included in the department's student dissertation archive, it is not one of the dissertations that the department has selected for online global publication, and so is only directly accessible from within the campus, where its abstract can also be accessed from the departmental page for this dissertation.

Similarly, the full text is only available online from within the campus (size about 380kB);  for external readers I could supply a copy of it on request.
 

An Operational Semantics for the Dataflow Algebra

This report defines an operational semantics for the event layer of the dataflow algebra, to complement the denotational semantics that had already been defined for it in the report "A Simplified Abstract Syntax for the Dataflow Algebra".

The author is A. J. Cowling, and it was published as a departmental research report, under the reference CS-04-16 (2004).

The abstract is available.
The full text is available (size 457kB), from the department's research report archive.

Data Models and the Dataflow Algebra within WinCASE

This is the dissertation produced by Alhadi Klaib for his MSc project, in which he extended the WinCASE tool to handle UML-style class diagrams.

Although the work was carried out under supervision, A. Klaib is the sole author (as is the department's normal practice for MSc dissertations).  The dissertation can be referred to as MSc Dissertation, Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, September 2005.

The abstract is available, both here and (since it is included in the part of the department's student dissertation archive that is globally online), from the departmental page for this dissertation.
The full text is available (size about 770kB).

Implementing Statechart Diagram within the WinCASE Framework

This is the dissertation produced by Aida Abdul Manan for her MSc project, in which she extended the WinCASE tool to handle a significant subset of UML-style statecharts.

Although the work was carried out under supervision, A. A. Manan is the sole author (as is the department's normal practice for MSc dissertations).  The dissertation can be referred to as MSc Dissertation, Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, September 2005.

The abstract is available here.  Although this dissertation is included in the department's student dissertation archive, it is not one of the dissertations that the department has selected for online global publication, and so is only directly accessible from within the campus, where its abstract can also be accessed from the departmental page for this dissertation.

Similarly, the full text is only available online from within the campus (size about 360kB);  for external readers I could supply a copy of it on request.
 

Migrating WinCASE Tool into Eclipse

This is the dissertation produced by Di Liu for his MSc project, in which he produced an initial implementation of an Eclipse version of the WinCASE tool, focussing primarily on the facilities for handling UML-style class diagrams.

Although the work was carried out under supervision, Di Liu is the sole author (as is the department's normal practice for MSc dissertations).  The dissertation can be referred to as MSc Dissertation, Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, September 2006.

The abstract is available here.  Although this dissertation is included in the department's student dissertation archive, it is not one of the dissertations that the department has selected for online global publication, and so is only directly accessible from within the campus, where its abstract can also be accessed from the departmental page for this dissertation.

Similarly, the full text is only available online from within the campus (size about 1.3MB);  for external readers I could supply a copy of it on request.
  

A Revised Denotational Semantics for the Dataflow Algebra

This report identifies and corrects an error that had been found in the denotational semantics for the event layer of the dataflow algebra, as this had been defined for it in the report "A Simplified Abstract Syntax for the Dataflow Algebra".

The author is A. J. Cowling, and it was published as a departmental research report, under the reference CS-06-11 (2006).

The abstract is available.
The full text is available (size 256kB), from the department's research report archive.
  

Migrate DFA tool into Eclipse

This is the dissertation produced by Ping Gong for his MSc project, in which he produced an initial implementation of an Eclipse version of the DFA tool.

Although the work was carried out under supervision, Ping Gong is the sole author (as is the department's normal practice for MSc dissertations).  The dissertation can be referred to as MSc Dissertation, Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, September 2007.

The abstract is available here.  Although this dissertation is included in the department's student dissertation archive, it is not one of the dissertations that the department has selected for online global publication, and so is only directly accessible from within the campus, where its abstract can also be accessed from the departmental page for this dissertation.

Similarly, the full text is only available online from within the campus (size about 720kB);  for external readers I could supply a copy of it on request.
 

Extending the Eclipse Version of WinCASE

This is the dissertation produced by Shilpa Mereddy for her MSc project, in which she extended the Eclipse version of the WinCASE tool, so as to use Eclipse's EMF and GMF to provide basic facilities for handling general diagrams, taking UML use case diagrams as a particular example.

Although the work was carried out under supervision, S. R. Mereddy is the sole author (as is the department's normal practice for MSc dissertations).  The dissertation can be referred to as MSc Dissertation, Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, September 2007.

The abstract is available here.  This dissertation is included in the department's student dissertation archive, and it is one of those that the department has selected for online global publication.  Hence, its abstract can also be accessed publicly from the departmental page for this dissertation.

Similarly, the full text is also publicly available online (size about 960kB).
  

Normal Forms in the Dataflow Algebra

This report builds on the work done to develop denotational and operational semantics for the event layer of the dataflow algebra, by defining normal forms within the algebra that are based on the models used in these two forms of semantics.

The author is A. J. Cowling, and it was published as a departmental research report, under the reference CS-07-11 (2007).

The abstract is available.
The full text is available (size 522kB), from the department's research report archive.
    

Equality and Inequality in the Dataflow Algebra

This report extends the fundamental set of axioms for the event layer of the dataflow algebra so as to rigorously define all possible cases of the equality of sequences that could arise, and uses this and the concept of normal forms to define a constructive algorithm for determining whether two sequences are equal.  It then similarly defines axioms for inequality, and a constructive algorithm for determining whether two sequences are unequal.

The author is A. J. Cowling, and it was published as a departmental research report, under the reference CS-08-03 (2008).

The abstract is available.
The full text is available (size 442kB), from the department's research report archive.
 

Developing Diagram Editors Within The WinCASE Framework

This is the dissertation produced by Joe Czucha for his third year individual project, in which he extended the Eclipse version of the WinCASE Tool that had been produced by Shilpa Mereddy, so that it would support the construction of a variety of diagrams.

Although the work was carried out under supervision, J. F. Czucha is the sole author (as is the department's normal practice for individual project dissertations).  The dissertation can be referred to as 3rd Year Dissertation, Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, June 2008.

The abstract is available here.  This dissertation is included in the department's student dissertation archive, and it is one of those that the department has selected for online global publication.  Hence, its abstract can also be accessed publicly from the departmental page for this dissertation.

Similarly, the full text is also publicly available online (size about 2MB).
    

Basic System and Subsystem Structures in the Dataflow Algebra

This report develops the structures needed to represent the concepts of systems and subsystems in the topological layer of the dataflow algebra, and begins the task of developing the corresponding event layer operations, focussing on the restriction operation.

The author is A. J. Cowling, and it was published as a departmental research report, under the reference CS-08-12 (2008).

The abstract is available.
The full text is available (size 307kB), from the department's research report archive.
      

Operations for Composing Subsystems in the Dataflow Algebra

This report develops further the operations needed at the event layer to model the concepts of composing subsystems, focussing on the parallel composition operation and its properties, formalising the definition of the synchronous merge operation, and extending this from the composition of event layer sequences to the composition of subsystems.

The author is A. J. Cowling, and it was published as a departmental research report, under the reference CS-08-13 (2008).

The abstract is available.
The full text is available (size 562kB), from the department's research report archive.
 

This page created by A. J. Cowling, and last updated on 23 March 2009