@InProceedings{Boosten03,
  title =        "{F}ormal {C}ontracts: {E}nabling {C}omponent {C}omposition",
  author=        "Boosten,  Marcel",
  editor=        "Broenink,  Jan F. and Hilderink,  Gerald H.",
  pages =        "185--197",
  booktitle=     "{C}ommunicating {P}rocess {A}rchitectures 2003",
  isbn=          "1 58603 381 6",
  year=          "2003",
  month=         "sep",
  abstract=      "Traditional component interaction is based on interface
     calls and callbacks. Such interaction can introduce
     integration faults, i.e., side effects at the moment of
     component integration. Solutions to such problems can be
     hard to apply, and may require drastic changes in the design
     of the involved components. This paper introduces Formal
     Contracts, a software construct that allows side-effect free
     component interaction, and thereby avoids the introduction
     of integration faults. Furthermore, via a state machine
     representing the inter-component contract, Formal Contracts,
     in addition to the static aspects, formally specify the
     dynamic aspects of component interaction. Formal Contracts
     are a pragmatic software mechanism that supports the full
     development cycle: from the specification and decomposition
     until the debugging, composition, and test of a system."
}