This book introduces SpecDB, an intelligent database created to represent and host software specifications in a machine-readable format, based on the principles of artificial intelligence and unit testing database operations. SpecDB is demonstrated via two automated intelligent tools. The first automatically generates database constraints from a rule-base in SpecDB. The second is a reverse engineering tool that logs the actual execution of the program from the code.

In this book we introduce SpecDB, a database created to represent and host software specications in a machine-readable format. The specications represented in SpecDB are for the purpose of unit testing database operations. A structured representation aids in the processes of both automated software testing and software code generation, based on the actual software specications. We describe the design of SpecDB, the underlying database that can hold the specications required for unit testing database operations.

Specications can be fed directly into SpecDB, or, if available, the formal specications can be translated to the SpecDB representation. An algorithm that translates formal specications to the SpecDB representation is described. The Z formal specication language has been chosen as an example for the translation algorithm. The outcome of the translation algorithm is a set of machine-readable formal specications.