Specifications are necessarily informal or: Some more myths of formal methods

Journal of Systems and Software

Volumn 40, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 275-296

  Le Charlier, Baudouin ^a   Flener, Pierre ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NAMUR   (Belgium)

^b BILKENT UNIVERSITY   (Turkey)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COMPUTER HARDWARE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGES; COMPUTER SCIENCE; COMPUTER SOFTWARE; FORMAL LANGUAGES;

NON FORMAL METHODS;

FORMAL LOGIC;

EID: 0032027911     PISSN: 01641212     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S0164-1212(98)00172-1     Document Type: Article

References (38)

1. Balzer, R., A 15 year perspective on automatic programming. IEEE Trans. on Software Engineering 11(11):1257-1268 (1985).
2. Balzer, R., Goldman, N., and Wile, D., Informality in program specifications. IEEE Trans. on Software Engineering 4(2):94-102 (1978). Also in C. Rich and R. C. Waters (eds.), Readings in Artificial Intelligence and Software Engineering, pp. 223-232. Morgan Kaufmann, 1986.
3. Balzer, R., Goldman, N., and Wile, D., Informality in program specifications. IEEE Trans. on Software Engineering 4(2):94-102 (1978). Also in C. Rich and R. C. Waters (eds.), Readings in Artificial Intelligence and Software Engineering, pp. 223-232. Morgan Kaufmann, 1986.
4. Bowen, J. P., and Hinchey, M. G., Ten commandments of formal methods. IEEE Computer 28(4):56-63 (1995a).
5. Bowen, J. P., and Hinchey, M. G., Seven more myths of formal methods. IEEE Software 12(3):34-41 (1995b).
6. Craigen, D., Gerhart, S. L., and Ralston, T., Formal methods reality check: Industrial usage. IEEE Trans. on Software Engineering 21(2):90-98 (1995).
7. De Millo, R. A., Lipton, R. J., and Perlis, A. J., Social processes and proofs of theorems and programs. Comm. of the ACM 22(5):271-280 (1979). Reactions in Comm. of the ACM 22(11):621-630 (1979).
8. De Millo, R. A., Lipton, R. J., and Perlis, A. J., Social processes and proofs of theorems and programs. Comm. of the ACM 22(5):271-280 (1979). Reactions in Comm. of the ACM 22(11):621-630 (1979).
9. Denning, P. J. (ed.), A debate on teaching computing science. Comm. of the ACM 32(12):1397-1414 (1989).
10. Fetzer, J. H., Program verification: The very idea. Comm. of the ACM 31(9):1048-1063 (1988). Reactions in Comm. of the ACM 32(3):374-381 (1989).
11. Fetzer, J. H., Program verification: The very idea. Comm. of the ACM 31(9):1048-1063 (1988). Reactions in Comm. of the ACM 32(3):374-381 (1989).
12. Flener, P., and Deville, Y., Logic program synthesis from incomplete specifications. Journal of Symbolic Computation: Special Issue on Automatic Programming 5(5-6):775-805 (1993).
13. Flener, P., Lau, K.-K., and Ornaghi, M., On correct program schemas. In N. Fuchs (ed.), Proc. of LOPSTR'97. LNCS, Springer-Verlag, 1998.
14. Flener, P., and Popelínsky, L., On the use of inductive reasoning in program synthesis: Prejudice and prospects. In L. Fribourg and F. Turini (eds.), Proc. of META'94 and LOPSTR'94, pp. 69-87. LNCS 883, Springer-Verlag, 1994.
15. Fraser, M. D., Kumar, K., and Vaishnavi, V. K., Informal and formal requirements specification languages: Bridging the gap. IEEE Trans. on Software Engineering 17(5):454-466 (1991).
16. Fraser, M. D., Kumar, K., and Vaishnavi, V. K., Strategies for incorporating formal specifications in software development. Comm. of the ACM 37(10):74-86 (1994).
17. Fuchs, N. E., Specifications are (preferably) executable. Software Engineering Journal 7:323-334 (1992).
18. Gerhart, S. L., Craigen, D., and Ralston, T., Experience with formal methods in critical systems. IEEE Software 11(1):21-28 (1994).
19. Gibbs, W. W., Software's chronic crisis. Scientific American 271(3):86-95 (1994).
20. Gravell, A., and Henderson, P., Executing formal specifications need not be harmful. Software Engineering Journal 11:104-110 (1996).
21. Guttag, J., Horning, J., and Wing, J., Some notes on putting formal specifications to productive use. Science of Computer Programming 2(1):53-68 (1982).
22. Hall, A., Seven myths of formal methods. IEEE Software 7(5):11-19 (1990).
23. Hayes, I. J., and Jones, C. B., Specifications are not (necessarily) executable. Software Engineering Journal 4(6):330-338 (1989).
24. Hoare, C. A. R., An overview of some formal methods for program design. IEEE Computer 20(9):85-91 (1987).
25. Hoare, C. A. R., How did software get so reliable without proof? In M.-C. Gaudel and J. Woodcock (eds.), Proc. of FME'96, Industrial Benefit and Advances in Formal Methods. LNCS 1051, Springer-Verlag, 1996.
26. Jackson, M., Software Requirements and Specifications: A Lexicon of Practice, Principles, and Prejudice. Addison-Wesley, 1995.
27. Johnson, W. L., Deriving specifications from requirements. In Proc. of ICSE'88. IEEE Computer Science Press, 1988.
28. Larsen, P. G., Fitzgerald, J., and Brookes, T., Applying formal specification in industry. IEEE Software 13(7):48-56 (1996).
29. Le Charlier, B., Réflexions sur le problème de la correction des programmes. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Namur (Belgium), 1985.
30. Le Charlier, B. (ed.), Proc. of the First International Static Analysis Symposium. LNCS 864, Springer-Verlag, 1994.
31. Le Charlier, B., and Flener, P., On the desirable link between theory and practice in abstract interpretation. In P. Van Hentenryck (ed.), Proc. of SAS'97, pp. 379-387. LNCS, Springer-Verlag, 1997.
32. Meyer, B., On formalism in specifications. IEEE Software 2(1):6-26 (1985).
33. Parnas, D. L., Mathematical description and specification of software. In B. Pehrson and I. Simon (eds.), Proc. of IFIP'94, pp. 354-359. Elsevier Science, 1994.
34. Parnas, D. L., and Madey, J., Functional documentation for computer systems engineering. Science of Computer Programming 25:41-61 (1995).
35. Saiedian, H. (ed.), An invitation to formal methods. IEEE Computer 29(4):16-30 (1996).
36. Wing, J. M., A specifier's introduction to formal methods. IEEE Computer 7(5):8-24 (1990).
37. Wordsworth, J. B., Software Development with Z: A Practical Approach to Formal Methods in Software Engineering. Addison-Wesley, 1992.
38. Zave, P., and Jackson, M., Four dark corners of requirements engineering. ACM Trans. on Software Engineering and Methodology 7(1):1-30 (1997).