TABLE OF CONTENTS The approach to specification is a significant element of MOSES, and is the subject of this chapter. Key topics include the complex systems expansion of traditional categories of external specifications; the list of information types for external and internal specifications; and the use of probability in specifying uncertainty.
In previous chapters, especially Chapter 6, we discussed external and internal models, and their intertwining structure that supports scale-up and scale-down through a repeating self-similar pattern. We have also, especially in Chapters 3 and 4, discussed the concepts of model versus specification, decoupling, and correspondence set. In this chapter we build on these concepts and drill down into the specification types to define the information content of each type.
This chapter is entitled "Specification Information" instead of "Model Information" for the following reason: it attempts to define more details of the types of information needed for shared understanding between parties but it does not make any statement or constraint on how much of this information is explicitly stated in a model. [1] Much of the information spelled out in this chapter will be implicit and will not show up in models, especially as SE becomes more mature.
Before proceeding further on this path, we mention an alternative definition of specification: a shared understanding of a correspondence set, which is a model M, a modality MP, a defined world W, and a system S, as defined in Chapter 4. This is a useful definition in cases where...
