In: Proc. Int. Conf. on Software Maintenance, 4-8 November 1996, Monterey, CA, pages 206-216. 1996.
Abstract: Petri net theory allows a system to be modeled by a Petri net, and abstract formal model of information flow characterized by controls and constraints. Analysis of the Petri net can then reveal important information about the structure and dynamic behavior of the modeled system, which can be used to evaluate the modeled system and suggest improvements or changes. This feature can be used in software maintenance. This paper proposes a method for developing predicate/transition net (PrT net) for software maintenance, whereby software components are reverse engineered and annotated with formal predicates, transformed into a PrT net, and analyzed on the PrT net. The advantage of the method is that inconsistencies of a program can be detected and revealed precisely.
Keywords: formal methods, predicate/transition Petri nets, software maintenance.