Publisher's Synopsis
This volume addresses the development and use of Formal Description Techniques (FDTs) that are applicable to Distributed Systems. The approaches considered are standard FTDs such as ASN.1., Estelle, LOTOS and SDL, as well as other formal approaches that contain innovative ideas and apply to distributed systems, such as Actors, B, Z and VDM.;The papers present the state of the art in theory, application, tools and industrialization of Formal Techniques. There are also papers discussing industrial applicability of the techniques to protocols and distributed systems, which aim to provide an orientation for newcomers. Researchers papers and industrial reports cover the following areas of FDT-based software engineering - methodology and architecture, design and implementation, comparative analyses of FDTs, practical usage experience and case studies.