Structuring and Modularity

The algebraic approach originally concentrated on the use of equational logic as the basic formalism for specification. This use was successful in many senses. In particular, the good behaviour of equational logic with respect to a number of semantic constructs has helped to facilitate the study of new specification concepts and constructs. At the same time, the categorical techniques used for the obtention of these results have allowed the generic study of specification constructs with independence of any specific formalism. In this sense, research in the foundations of algebraic specification methods has departed from equational logic a number of years ago and has concentrated, to a large extent, on the generic study of specification constructs that can be used in connection to any "reasonable" specification approach.