(Auto)Focus approaches and their applications: A systematic review

TL;DR

This paper systematically reviews the development, applications, and impact of focus-based approaches in formal specification and development of interactive systems over the past 25 years.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive literature review of focus approaches, including academic case studies and industrial applications, highlighting their evolution and influence.

Findings

Focus frameworks have been widely adopted in academia and industry.

Focus-based methods have led to the development of domain-specific frameworks.

The AF3 modeling tool is a notable application of focus approaches.

Abstract

Focus, a framework for formal specification and development of interactive systems, was introduced approx. 25 years ago. Since then this approach was broadly used in academic and industrial studies, as well as provided a basis for a number of another frameworks focusing on particular domains, and for the AF3 modelling tool. In this paper we provide a literature review of the corresponding approaches, academic case studies and industrial applications of these methods.