Formal Methods Adoption in Industry: An Experience Report

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

While formal methods provide powerful means by which designers can show that their systems meet specific requirements, industry has been slow to adopt them. The need for users to learn specialized languages and have a firm grasp of mathematical logic are primary hurdles to such adoption. Even though formal verification tools can make the process less tedious and reduce human error, they generally still require guidance from humans with specialized knowledge. In this report, the author’s experiences working for a small business are presented, which involved the development and promotion of formal methods tools for public and government agencies. It is notable that the end users of these tools were not necessarily specialists, and often had little to no prior experience with formal methods. Here, we specifically look at the general-purpose design language that was used for modeling, the development of intuitive graphics-based tools to make the system design task easier, and how automated model checking was applied to the resulting system models. We discuss the interactions with and feedback from clients regarding these tools, and in the conclusion make some suggestions regarding their adoption.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationFormal Methods for an Informal World - ICTAC 2021 Summer School, Virtual Event, Tutorial Lectures
EditorsAntonio Cerone
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages152-161
Number of pages10
ISBN (Print)9783031436772
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023
Event18th International Colloquium on Theoretical Aspects of Computing , ICTAC 2021 - Virtual, Online
Duration: Sept 1 2021Sept 7 2021

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume13490 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference18th International Colloquium on Theoretical Aspects of Computing , ICTAC 2021
CityVirtual, Online
Period9/1/219/7/21

Keywords

  • Automated model checking
  • Formal methods adoption
  • Formal methods in industry
  • Systems level design languages

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • General Computer Science

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