An investigation into the measurement of notations used in software modelling

Abstract

Measurement systems for software abound in the literature as do those for models in specification languages. This report applies measurement to the formal notations themselves making use of the principle of model-based measurement. Formality implies the use of mathematics. Any notation which relies in a branch of mathematics is therefore formal to a lesser or greater degree depending on the scope of the branch of mathematics chosen and whether a deductive mechanism is included to allow reasoning on the model.