From static to dynamic abstract data-types

Abstract

We show how to extend in a canonical way a given formalism for specifying (static) data types (like usual algebraic specification frameworks) with dynamic features. We obtain in this way a corresponding formalism for specifying dynamic data-types based on the “state-as-algebra” approach: a dynamic data-type models a dynamically evolving system in which any state can be viewed as a static data type in the underlying formalism, and the dynamic evolution is given by operations on states. Formally, our construction is a transformation of (pre)institutions.