A model-based tool for interactive prototyping of highly interactive applications

Abstract

We present a model-based case tool dedicated to the prototyping of highly interactive (also called post-WIMP) applications. Such applications are challenging to model and to prototype, since they require the use of non-standard widgets and interaction techniques and exhibit a complex dynamic behavior. The tool, called PetShop, embodies the results of several years of research about the formal modeling of interactive systems, and its main application domain is safety-critical interactive applications such air-traffic control or military command and control systems. PetShop stands apart from most formal-based tools since it supports and promotes an iterative and user-centered design process, and also stands apart from most model-based tools since it goes beyond WIMP interfaces and does not sacrifice the formal validation of models.