10 Facts About Formal methods

In computer science, formal methods are mathematically rigorous techniques for the specification, development, and verification of software and hardware systems.

Some practitioners believe that the formal methods community has overemphasized full formalization of a specification or design.

Examples of this lightweight approach to formal methods include the Alloy object modelling notation, Denney's synthesis of some aspects of the Z notation with use case driven development, and the CSK VDM Tools.

Formal methods can be applied at various points through the development process.

Formal methods verification is the use of software tools to prove properties of a formal specification, or to prove that a formal model of a system implementation satisfies its specification.

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Formal methods are applied in different areas of hardware and software, including routers, Ethernet switches, routing protocols, security applications, and operating system microkernels such as seL4.

Formal methods verification has been frequently used in hardware by most of the well-known hardware vendors, such as IBM, Intel, and AMD.

In software development, formal methods are mathematical approaches to solving software problems at the requirements, specification, and design levels.

Formal methods are most likely to be applied to safety-critical or security-critical software and systems, such as avionics software.

Sequential software, examples of formal methods include the B-Method, the specification languages used in automated theorem proving, RAISE, and the Z notation.