Formalising high-performance systems methodologies

This paper presents a Z formal framework to describe software design methodologies (SDM) for high-performance systems (HPS). The framework consists of two main parts: the characterisation of the main activities in the development of HPS, and the components of the SDM (concepts, artifacts, representation and actions) which are essential for any methodology. The framework relates these two parts by identifying generic components of each activity that can be used to classify and formalise SDM for HPS. This is illustrated in the paper by presenting part of the specification of a well-known method.