staging This is a test website.

Teaching Formal Methods CoLogNET/FME Symposium, TFM 2004, Ghent, Belgium, November 18-19, 2004. Proceedings

You must be logged in to access this title.

Sign up now

Already a member? Log in

Synopsis

“Professional engineers can often be distinguished from other designers by the engineers’ ability to use mathematical models to describe and 1 analyze their products.” This observation by Parnas describes the de facto professional standards in all classical engineering disciplines (civil, mechanical, electrical, etc.). Unf- tunately, it is in sharp contrast with current (industrial) practice in software design, where mathematical models are hardly used at all, even by those who, 2 in Holloway’s words “aspire to be engineers.” The rare exceptions are certain critical applications, where mathematical techniques are used under the general name formal methods. Yet,thesamecharacteristicsthatmakeformalmethodsanecessityincritical applicationsmakethemalsoadvantageousineverydaysoftwaredesignatvarious levels from design e?ciency to software quality. Why, then, is education failing with respect to formal methods? – failing to convince students, academics and practitioners alike that formal methods are truly pragmatic; – failing to overcome a phobia of formality and mathematics; – failing to provide students with the basic skills and understanding required toadoptamoremathematicalandlogicalapproachtosoftwaredevelopment. Until education takes these failings seriously, formal methods will be an obscure byway in software engineering, which in turn will remain severely impoverished as a result.

Book details

Edition:
2004
Series:
Lecture Notes in Computer Science (Book 3294)
Author:
C. Neville Dean, Raymond T. Boute
ISBN:
9783540304722
Related ISBNs:
9783540236115
Publisher:
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Pages:
N/A
Reading age:
Not specified
Includes images:
No
Date of addition:
2022-08-11
Usage restrictions:
Copyright
Copyright date:
2004
Copyright by:
N/A 
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Categories:
Computers and Internet, Education, Mathematics and Statistics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Technology