A validation methodology is proposed and implemented for natural language software specifications of standard graphics functions. Checks are made for consistency, completeness, and lack of ambiguity in data element and function descriptions. Functions and data elements are maintained in a relational database representation. The appropriate checks are performed by sequences of database operations. The relational database manager INGRES was used to support a prototype implementation of the proposed technique. The methodology supports the development of a scenario-based prototype from the information available in the specification. This permits various function sequences to be checked without implementation of the environment specified. The application of a prototype implementation of the proposed methodology to the specification of the Graphics Kernel System (GKS) software package demonstrates the practicability of the method. Several inconsistencies in GKS related to the definition of data elements have been identified.

翻译：提出并实现了一种针对标准图形函数自然语言软件规范的验证方法。该方法对数据元素和函数描述的一致性、完备性及无歧义性进行检查。函数与数据元素以关系数据库形式存储，相应的检查通过数据库操作序列执行。采用关系数据库管理系统INGRES支持该技术的原型实现。该方法支持基于场景的原型开发，可利用规范中的现有信息构建原型，从而无需实现所指定的环境即可检查各种函数序列。将该方法原型实现应用于图形核心系统（GKS）软件包的规范验证，证明了该方法的可行性，并识别出GKS中与数据元素定义相关的若干不一致问题。