ISO/IEC TR 14369:2018

TECHNICAL ISO/IEC TR
REPORT 14369
Second edition
2018-01
Information technology —
Programming languages, their
environments and system software
interfaces — Guidelines for the
preparation of language-independent
service specifications (LISS)
Technologies de l'information — Langages de programmation,
leurs environnements et interfaces du logiciel d'exploitation —
Lignes directrices pour l'élaboration de spécifications de service
indépendantes du langage (LISS)
Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2018
© ISO/IEC 2018
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ii © ISO/IEC 2018 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .vii
Introduction .viii
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Abbreviated terms . 4
5 Overview . 4
5.1 Services, interfaces, service providers and service users . 4
5.2 Information technology services . 4
5.3 Services and language independence . 5
5.4 Language-independent specifications . 6
5.5 Problems of language dependence and inbuilt assumptions . 7
5.5.1 General. 7
5.5.2 Representational assumptions . 7
5.5.3 Implementation assumptions. 7
6 Guidelines on strategy . 8
6.1 General . 8
6.2 General guidelines. 8
6.2.1 Guideline: Dependence of the interface on the service . 8
6.2.2 Guideline: What to do when there are interoperability, concurrency, or
time constraint issues. 8
6.2.3 Guideline: Use of marshalling/unmarshalling . 8
6.2.4 Guideline: Recruiting expertise from a variety of backgrounds . 9
6.3 What to do if starting from scratch. 9
6.3.1 General. 9
6.3.2 Guideline: Avoidance of implementation assumptions . 9
6.3.3 Specifying the service in language-independent form . 9
6.3.4 Specifying the interface to the service in language-independent form .10
6.4 What to do if starting from an existing language-dependent specification .10
6.4.1 General.10
6.4.2 General guidelines .10
6.4.3 Converting an existing language-dependent specification of the service
into language-independent form .12
6.4.4 Converting an existing implicit interface into an explicit language-
independent interface .13
6.4.5 Specifying a language-independent interface to a service whose
specification is language-dependent .14
7 Guidelines on document organization.15
7.1 General .15
7.2 Guideline: The general framework .15
7.2.1 General.15
7.2.2 Checklist of parts for inclusion .15
7.3 Guideline: Production and publication .16
7.4 Guideline: Document organization when starting from a language-specific specification 16
8 Guidelines on terminology .17
8.1 General .17
8.2 Guideline: The need for rigour .17
8.3 Guideline: The need for consistency .17
8.4 Guideline: Use of undefined terms .17
8.5 Guideline: Use of ISO 2382 .17
8.6 Guideline: Use of definition by reference .18
© ISO/IEC 2018 – All rights reserved iii

8.7 Guideline: Terminology used in bindings .18
9 Guidelines on use of formal specification languages .18
9.1 Guideline: Use of a formal specification language .18
9.2 Checklist of formal specification languages .18
9.2.1 General.18
9.2.2 Estelle .18
9.2.3 Lotos .19
9.2.4 VDM-SL .19
9.2.5 Z .19
9.2.6 Extended BNF .20
9.3 Guideline: Using formal specifications from the outset .20
9.4 Guideline: Use of operational semantics .20
10 Guidelines on interoperability.21
10.1 General .21
10.1.1 Interoperability with what? .21
10.1.2 The nature of the interoperation .22
10.1.3 How interoperation is invoked .22
10.2 Guidelines on interoperability with other instantiations of the same service .22
10.2.1 Guideline: Identifying features affecting interoperability .22
10.2.2 Guideline: Precise definition and rigorous conformity requirements .22
10.2.3 Guideline: Importance of exchange values .23
10.3 Guidelines on interoperability with other services .23
10.3.1 General.23
10.3.2 Guideline: Interoperability with other services being defined at the same time .23
10.3.3 Guideline: Interoperability with a pre-defined service .23
11 Guidelines on concurrency issues .24
11.1 General .24
11.2 Guidelines on concurrency within the service specification .24
11.2.1 Guideline: Avoidance of unnecessary concurrency requirements .24
11.3 Guidelines on concurrency of interaction with service users .24
11.3.1 General.
...