Michael Jackson's "Structured Design", were one to explain it in algebraic terms, basically says that if one writes a batch program as the homomorphism which is the meet of the programs which homomorphically read the input files and the program(s) which homomorphically write the output file(s), not only are many design decisions are forced (there is a unique solution, up to bikeshedding), but the resulting program will be largely online/deforested/streaming (pick the adjective appropriate to your decade).
Now, I don't know if Jackson thought of his process in these terms, but having overlapped at university with CAR Hoare, I find it likely — what I do know is that he was very careful, in communicating with practitioners, to never speak in terms of algebraic abstractions.
[Update: I was wrong about algebraic antecedents to JSP; Dr. Jackson kindly not only informed me he would characterize his thinking for JSP rather as "pre-formal", but also sent along an account of the gestation of its development.]