Animating formal specifications using Java applets

Abstract

The paper proposes the generation of Java applets from specifications given in an extended Petri Net formalism. The anticipated advantages of this approach are to gain a greater confidence in the correctness of the final product, and to harness the capabilities of Java in a consistent framework. The emphasis of the paper is on the generation of the Java code from the Petri net specification, on the assessment of both Java and C++ as suitable targets for this translation, and on the suitability of this extended form of Petri net as a host for various extensions to Java.