PROGRAM SPECIFICATION

A 'program specification' is the definition of what a computer program is expected to do. It can be ''informal'', in which case it can be considered as a blueprint or user manual from a developer point of view, or ''formal'', in which case it has a definite meaning defined in mathematical or programmatic terms. In practice, most successful specifications are written to understand and fine-tune applications that were already well-developed, although safety-critical software systems are often carefully specified prior to application development. Specifications are most important for external interfaces that must remain stable.

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See also

See also

★ Formal methods

★ Formal verification

★ Formal specification

★ Program transformation

★ Denotational semantics

★ Operational semantics

★ Axiomatic semantics

★ Design by contract

★ Abstract Machine Notation (AMN)

★ Vienna Development Method (VDM)

★ Z notation

★ Software engineering

★ Specification language

★ Programming language specification

★ Program refinement