Parasitic languages for requirements

Abstract

Computer modelling is a viable method for aiding requirements elicitation of future systems as it provides a mechanism for understanding and consolidating ideas which people can readily relate to. However a major drawback with a computer model is the capturing of its requirements for future contractual use. We put forward a method by which requirement statements can be attributed within models that allows for post compilation extraction and analysis. This approach is based on adding a parasitic language to a modelling language which strongly couples requirements to items of code, but which is transparent to the dynamic execution of the model. The paper illustrates the approach on a simple language and discusses how the approach has been incorporated within a large system modelling language. The ability to provide direct links to requirement management repositories is shown.