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

Kung-Kiu Lau (auth.), C. Neville Dean, Raymond T. Boute (eds.)3540236112, 9783540236115, 9783540304722

“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.

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Table of contents :
Front Matter….Pages –
A Beginner’s Course on Reasoning About Imperative Programs….Pages 1-16
Designing Algorithms in High School Mathematics….Pages 17-31
Motivating Study of Formal Methods in the Classroom….Pages 32-46
Formal Systems, Not Methods….Pages 47-64
A Practice-Oriented Course on the Principles of Computation, Programming, and System Design and Analysis….Pages 65-84
Teaching How to Derive Correct Concurrent Programs from State-Based Specifications and Code Patterns….Pages 85-106
Specification-Driven Design with Eiffel and Agents for Teaching Lightweight Formal Methods….Pages 107-123
Integrating Formal Specification and Software Verification and Validation….Pages 124-139
Distributed Teaching of Formal Methods….Pages 140-152
An Undergraduate Course on Protocol Engineering – How to Teach Formal Methods Without Scaring Students….Pages 153-165
Linking Paradigms, Semi-formal and Formal Notations….Pages 166-184
Teaching Formal Methods in Context….Pages 185-202
Embedding Formal Development in Software Engineering….Pages 203-213
Advertising Formal Methods and Organizing Their Teaching: Yes, but …….Pages 214-224
Retrospect and Prospect of Formal Methods Education in China….Pages 225-234
A Survey of Formal Methods Courses in European Higher Education….Pages 235-248
Back Matter….Pages –