Reduction and slicing of hierarchical state machines

Abstract

Formal specification languages are often criticized for being difficult to understand, difficult to use, and unacceptable by software practitioners. Notations based on state machines, such as, Statecharts, Requirements State Machine Language (RSML), and SCR, are suitable for modeling of embedded systems and eliminate many of the main drawbacks of formal specification languages. Although a specification language can help eliminate accidental complexity, the inherent complexity of many of today's systems inevitably leads to large and complex specifications. Thus, there is a need for mechanisms to simplify a formal specification and present information to analysts and reviewers in digestible chunks.