JML is a behavioural interface specification language for Java modules. JML provides semantics to formally describe the behavior of a Java module, preventing ambiguity with regard to the module designers' intentions. JML inherits ideas from Eiffel, Larch and the Refinement Calculus, with the goal of providing rigorous formal semantics while still being accessible to any Java programmer. Various tools are available that make use of JML's behavioral specifications. Because specifications can be written as annotations in Java program files, or stored in separate specification files, Java modules with JML specifications can be compiled unchanged with any Java compiler.
Syntax
JML specifications are added to Java code in the form of annotations in comments. Java comments are interpreted as JML annotations when they begin with an @ sign. That is, comments of the form //@ or /*@ @*/ Basic JML syntax provides the following keywords ; requires : Defines a precondition on the method that follows. ; ensures : Defines a postcondition on the method that follows. ; signals : Defines a postcondition for when a given Exception is thrown by the method that follows. ; signals_only : Defines what exceptions may be thrown when the given precondition holds. ; assignable : Defines which fields are allowed to be assigned to by the method that follows. ; pure : Declares a method to be side effect free. Furthermore, a pure method is supposed to always either terminate normally or throw an exception. ; invariant : Defines an invariant property of the class. ; loop_invariant : Defines a loop invariant for a loop. ; also : Combines specification cases and can also declare that a method is inheriting specifications from its supertypes. ; assert : Defines a JML assertion. ; spec_public : Declares a protected or private variable public for specification purposes. Basic JML also provides the following expressions ; \result : An identifier for the return value of the method that follows. ; \old : A modifier to refer to the value of the at the time of entry into a method. ; : The universal quantifier. ; : The existential quantifier. ; a > b : a implies b ; a < b : a is implied by b ; a <> b : a if and only if b as well as standard Java syntax for logical and, or, and not. JML annotations also have access to Java objects, object methods and operators that are within the scope of the method being annotated and that have appropriate visibility. These are combined to provide formal specifications of the properties of classes, fields and methods. For example, an annotated example of a simple banking class may look like public class BankingExample
Full documentation of JML syntax is available .
Tool support
A variety of tools provide functionality based on JML annotations. The Iowa State JML tools provide an assertion checking compiler jmlc which converts JML annotations into runtime assertions, a documentation generatorjmldoc which produces Javadoc documentation augmented with extra information from JML annotations, and a unit test generator jmlunit which generates JUnit test code from JML annotations. Independent groups are working on tools that make use of JML annotations. These include:
ESC/Java2 , an extended static checker which uses JML annotations to perform more rigorous static checking than is otherwise possible.
, a plugin for the Eclipse integrated development environment with support for JML syntax and interfaces to various tools that make use of JML annotations.
