The industrial use of formal methods

Thomas, Martyn

doi:10.1016/0141-9331(93)90091-k

“…Wing explained the underlying concepts and principles for formal methods to newcomers [Wing 1990]. Thomas presented evidence for the cost effectiveness of industrial use of formal methods from a CEO's perspective [Thomas 1992]. Austin carried out a survey into the industrial use of formal methods, in order to discover the reasons for their rather low acceptance in industry [Austin and Parkin 1993].…”

Section: Surveys Of Formal Methods Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Formal methods

Woodcock

¹

,

Larsen

²

,

Bicarregui

³

et al. 2009

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Formal methods use mathematical models for analysis and verification at any part of the program life-cycle. We describe the state of the art in the industrial use of formal methods, concentrating on their increasing use at the earlier stages of specification and design. We do this by reporting on a new survey of industrial use, comparing the situation in 2009 with the most significant surveys carried out over the last 20 years. We describe some of the highlights of our survey by presenting a series of industrial projects, and we draw some observations from these surveys and records of experience. Based on this, we discuss the issues surrounding the industrial adoption of formal methods. Finally, we look to the future and describe the development of a Verified Software Repository, part of the worldwide Verified Software Initiative. We introduce the initial projects being used to populate the repository, and describe the challenges they address.

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“…Formal methods have been studied in academia and applied in industry for quite some time now, as witnessed by introductions from the early '90s to the use of formal methods in developing safety-critical software systems from academia [107,113,125] and industry [119,120]. Further historical references from long-time advocates of formal methods relect on the industrial application of formal methods through the metaphors of seven (and seven more) myths [26,78] and ten commandments [27,28] to eventually realize their beneits [79].…”

Section: Related Reviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formal Methods in Railways: A Systematic Mapping Study

Ferrari¹,

Beek

²

2022

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Formal methods are mathematically based techniques for the rigorous development of software-intensive systems. The railway signaling domain is a field in which formal methods have traditionally been applied, with several success stories. This article reports on a mapping study that surveys the landscape of research on applications of formal methods to the development of railway systems. Following the guidelines of systematic reviews, we identify 328 relevant primary studies, and extract information about their demographics, the characteristics of formal methods used and railway-specific aspects. Our main results are as follows: (i) we identify a total of 328 primary studies relevant to our scope published between 1989 and 2020, of which 44% published during the last 5 years and 24% involving industry; (ii) the majority of studies are evaluated through Examples (41%) and Experience Reports (38%), while full-fledged Case Studies are limited (1.5%); (iii) Model checking is the most commonly adopted technique (47%), followed by simulation (27%) and theorem proving (19.5%); (iv) the dominant languages are UML (18%) and B (15%), while frequently used tools are ProB (9%), NuSMV (8%) and UPPAAL (7%); however, a diverse landscape of languages and tools is employed; (v) the majority of systems are interlocking products (40%), followed by models of high-level control logic (27%); (vi) most of the studies focus on the Architecture (66%) and Detailed Design (45%) development phases. Based on these findings, we highlight current research gaps and expected actions. In particular, the need to focus on more empirically sound research methods, such as Case Studies and Controlled Experiments, and to lower the degree of abstraction, by applying formal methods and tools to development phases that are closer to software development. Our study contributes with an empirically based perspective on the future of research and practice in formal methods applications for railways. It can be used by formal methods researchers to better focus their scientific inquiries, and by railway practitioners for an improved understanding of the interplay between formal methods and their specific application domain.

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“…Formal methods have been studied in academia and applied in industry for quite some time now, as witnessed by introductions from the early '90s to the use of formal methods in developing safety-critical software systems from academia [83,87,95] and industry [91,92]. Further historical references from long-time advocates of formal methods reflect on the industrial application of formal methods through the metaphors of seven (and seven more) myths [20,61] and ten commandments [21,22] to eventually realize their benefits [62].…”

Section: Related Reviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formal Methods in Railways: a Systematic Mapping Study

Ferrari,

ter Beek

2021

Preprint

0

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Formal methods are mathematically based techniques for the rigorous development of software-intensive systems. The railway signaling domain is a field in which formal methods have traditionally been applied, with several success stories. This article reports on a mapping study that surveys the landscape of research on applications of formal methods to the development of railway systems. Following the guidelines of systematic reviews, we identify 328 relevant primary studies, and extract information about their demographics, the characteristics of formal methods used and railway-specific aspects. Our main results are as follows: (i) we identify a total of 328 primary studies relevant to our scope published between 1989 and 2020, of which 44% published during the last 5 years and 24% involving industry; (ii) the majority of studies are evaluated through Examples (41%) and Experience Reports (38%), while full-fledged Case Studies are limited (1.5%); (iii) Model checking is the most commonly adopted technique (47%), followed by simulation (27%) and theorem proving (19.5%); (iv) the dominant languages are UML (18%) and B (15%), while frequently used tools are ProB (9%), NuSMV (8%) and UPPAAL (7%); however, a diverse landscape of languages and tools is employed; (v) the majority of systems are interlocking products (40%), followed by models of high-level control logic (27%); (vi) most of the studies focus on the Architecture (66%) and Detailed Design (45%) development phases. Based on these findings, we highlight current research gaps and expected actions. In particular, the need to focus on more empirically sound research methods, such as Case Studies and Controlled Experiments, and to lower the degree of abstraction, by applying formal methods and tools to development phases that are closer to software development. Our study contributes with an empirically based perspective on the future of research and practice in formal methods applications for railways. It can be used by formal methods researchers to better focus their scientific inquiries, and by railway practitioners for an improved understanding of the interplay between formal methods and their specific application domain.

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The industrial use of formal methods

Cited by 21 publications

References 4 publications

Formal methods

Formal methods

Formal Methods in Railways: A Systematic Mapping Study

Formal Methods in Railways: a Systematic Mapping Study

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