SDL-88 Tutorial

Tutorial on SDL-88
Belina, Hogrefe (edits Reed)

The ITU-T Specification and Description Language has been designed to specify and describe how telecommunication systems behave functionally. It has been used in a variety of fields, including data communication protocol specification.

This tutorial briefly explains the basic concepts of the version of the language, known as SDL-88, that was recommended by CCITT (part of ITU now re-named ITU-T) in 1987. This has subsequently been updated to SDL-92 and SDL-2000.

Click on a title below to open that part of the tutorial.

1. Introduction
2. Basic system structure
3. Process definition
4. Process communication
5. Additional structural concepts
6. Data type concepts
7. Shorthands
8. Remote definitions
9. Overview of SDL concepts
10. Interaction with the environment
11. References

Note on the authors: This tutorial was originally prepared by Ferenc Belina and Dieter Hogrefe. Both were key contributors to SDL-88, and the subsequent SDL-92 and two of the three co-authors of the book 'SDL with Applications from Protocol Specifications'. Dieter Hogrefe subsequently has been more active in work on the TTCN, which is another ITU-T System Design Language. Ferenc Belina died at the end of 1992 after 3 months illness, but made a considerable contribution to SDL-92. It is a tribute to his work that much of SDL-88 continues in SDL-92 and SDL-2000 and so most of the original tutorial is still relevant for these versions. Rick Reed has edited the tutorial to reflect the existence of the later versions, SDL-92 and SDL-2000.