Handling Inconsistency in Software Requirements

Abstract

Software Requirements expressed in the form of natural language are often informal and possibly vague. The need for formal representation of the requirements has been explored and addressed in various forms earlier. Of several recommended approaches, logical representation of requirements has been widely acknowledged to formalize the requirements languages. In this paper, we present courteous logic based representations for software requirements. We report the benefits of courteous logic based representations for handling inconsistencies in software requirements and take into account views of multiple stakeholders and the presuppositions. We show how courteous logic based representations can be used to ensure consistency as well as to uncover presuppositions in the requirements.