Come, Let’s Play Scenario-Based Programming Using LSCs and the Play-Engine

The design of reactive systems is one of the most challenging problems in computer science. This books starts with a critical insight to explain the difficulty of this problem: there is a fundamental gap between the scenario-based way in which people think about such systems and the state-based way in which these systems are implemented. The book then offers a radical proposal to bridge this gap by means of playing scenarios. Systems can be specified by playing in scenarios and implemented by means of a Play-Engine that plays out scenarios. This idea is carried out and developed, lucidly, formally and playfully, to its fullest. The result is a compelling proposal, accompanied by a prototype software engine, for reactive systems design, which is bound to cause a splash in the software-engineering community.
Moshe Y. Vardi, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA

Scenarios are a primary exchange tool in explaining system behavior to others, but their limited expressive power never made them able to fully describe systems, thus limiting their use. The language of Live Sequence Charts (LSCs) presented in this beautifully written book achieves this goal, and the attached Play-Engine software makes these LSCs really come alive. This is undoubtedly a key breakthrough that will start long-awaited and exciting new directions in systems specification, synthesis, and analysis.
Gérard Berry, Esterel Technologies and INRIA, Sophia-Antipolis, France

The approach of David Harel and Rami Marelly is a fascinating way of combining prototyping techniques with techniques for identifying behavior and user interfaces.
Manfred Broy, Technical University of Munich, Germany