• DocumentCode
    798671
  • Title

    Ten commandments of formal methods... ten years later

  • Author

    Bowen, Jonathan P. ; Hinchey, Michael G.

  • Author_Institution
    London South Bank University
  • Volume
    39
  • Issue
    1
  • fYear
    2006
  • Firstpage
    40
  • Lastpage
    48
  • Abstract
    More than a decade ago, in "Ten Commandments of Formal Methods", we offered practical guidelines for projects that sought to use formal methods. Over the years, the article, which was based on our knowledge of successful industrial projects, has been widely cited and has generated much positive feedback. However, despite this apparent enthusiasm, formal methods use has not greatly increased, and some of the same attitudes about the infeasibility of adopting them persist. How have the formal methods commandments fared over the past decade? Are they still valid in the current industrial setting, and have attitudes toward formal methods improved? The authors revisit their 10 maxims to answer these questions. The commandments are as follows: (i) thou shalt use an appropriate notation, (ii) thou shalt formalize but not overformalize, (iii) thou shalt estimate costs, (iv) thou shalt have a formal methods guru on call, (v) thou shalt not abandon thy traditional development methods, (vi) thou shalt documents sufficiently, (vii) thou shalt not compromise thy quality standards, (viii) thou shalt not be dogmatic, (ix) thou shalt test, test, and test again, (x) thou shalt reuse.
  • Keywords
    formal specification; formal verification; program testing; software cost estimation; software quality; formal method commandments; formal specification; formal verification; industrial projects; program testing; software cost estimation; software quality; Algebra; Calculus; Carbon capture and storage; Formal specifications; Formal verification; Logic functions; Mathematics; Probabilistic logic; Set theory; Timing; Formal methods; Software engineering; Standards; Unified Modeling Language;
  • fLanguage
    English
  • Journal_Title
    Computer
  • Publisher
    ieee
  • ISSN
    0018-9162
  • Type

    jour

  • DOI
    10.1109/MC.2006.35
  • Filename
    1580381