Provably Correct Systems: Community, Connections, and Citations

Abstract

The original European ESPRIT ProCoS I and II projects on Provably Correct Systems took place around a quarter of a century ago. Since then the legacy of the initiative has spawned many researchers with careers in formal methods. One of the leaders on the ProCoS projects was Ernst-Rüdiger Olderog. This paper charts the influence of the ProCoS projects and the subsequent ProCoS-WG Working Group, using Prof. Dr Olderog as an example. The community of researchers surrounding an initiative such as ProCoS is considered in the context of the social science concept of a Community of Practice (CoP) and the collaborations undertaken through coauthorship of and citations to publications. Consideration of citation metrics is also included.

The Impact of Alan Turing: Formal Methods and Beyond

“…In the field of formal methods, although there is apparently no direct link from Turing's early interest in program proving, with hindsight it can be seen that Turing's ideas are highly relevant to this domain. Had Turing lived longer as the interests of other researchers caught up with those of Turing in the 1960s, it is quite possible that he could have been involved in the early formation of the formal methods community [31,38].…”

“…Despite their benefits, not all have been convinced that formal methods are worthwhile in practice [35]. However, formal methods communities continue [31,38], especially for application in high-integrity systems where safety or security is important [39]. The state of the art moves on [22] and increasingly complex systems can be tackled using formal methods [92].…”