In any serious engineering discipline, it would be unthinkable to construct a large system without having a precise notion of what is to be built and without verifying how the system is expected to function. Software engineering is no different in this respect. Formal methods involve the use of mathematical notation and calculus in software development; such methods are difficult to apply to large-scale systems with practical constraints (e.g., limited developer skills, time and budget restrictions, changing requirements). Here Liu claims that formal engineering methods may bridge this gap. He advocates the incorporation of mathematical notation into the software engineering process, thus substantially improving the rigor, comprehensibility and effectiveness of the methods commonly used in industry. This book provides an introduction to the SOFL (Structured Object-Oriented Formal Language) method that was designed and industry-tested by the author. Written in a style suitable for lecture courses or for use by professionals, there are numerous exercises and a significant real-world case study, so the readers are provided with all the knowledge and examples needed to successfully apply the method in their own projects.

Formal methods are mathematically-based techniques, often supported by reasoning tools, that can offer a rigorous and effective way to model, design and analyze computer systems. The purpose of this study is to evaluate international industrial experience in using formal methods. The cases selected are representative of industrial-grade projects and span a variety of application domains. The study had three main objectives: · To better inform deliberations within industry and government on standards and regulations; · To provide an authoritative record on the practical experience of formal methods to date; and À To suggest areas where future research and technology development are needed. This study was undertaken by three experts in formal methods and software engineering: Dan Craigen of ORA Canada, Susan Gerhart of Applied Formal Methods, and Ted Ralston of Ralston Research Associates. Robin Bloomfield of Adelard was involved with the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station Shutdown System case. Support for this study was provided by organizations in Canada and the United States. The Atomic Energy Control Board of Canada (AECB) provided support for Dan Craigen and for the technical editing provided by Karen Summerskill. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratories (NRL), Washington, DC, provided support for all three authors. The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provided support for Ted Ralston.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods, ICFEM 2016, held in Tokyo, Japan, in November 2016. The 27 revised full papers presented together with three invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from 64 submissions. The conference focuses in all areas related to formal engineering meth-ods, such as verification and validation, software engineering, formal specification and modeling, software security, and software reliability.

A formal method is not the main engine of a development process, its contribution is to improve system dependability by motivating formalisation where useful. This book summarizes the results of the DEPLOY research project on engineering methods for dependable systems through the industrial deployment of formal methods in software development. The applications considered were in automotive, aerospace, railway, and enterprise information systems, and microprocessor design. The project introduced a formal method, Event-B, into several industrial organisations and built on the lessons learned to provide an ecosystem of better tools, documentation and support to help others to select and introduce rigorous systems engineering methods. The contributing authors report on these projects and the lessons learned. For the academic and research partners and the tool vendors, the project identified improvements required in the methods and supporting tools, while the industrial partners learned about the value of formal methods in general. A particular feature of the book is the frank assessment of the managerial and organisational challenges, the weaknesses in some current methods and supporting tools, and the ways in which they can be successfully overcome. The book will be of value to academic researchers, systems and software engineers developing critical systems, industrial managers, policymakers, and regulators.

In the Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK(R) Guide), the IEEE Computer Society establishes a baseline for the body of knowledge for the field of software engineering, and the work supports the Society's responsibility to promote the advancement of both theory and practice in this field. It should be noted that the Guide does not purport to define the body of knowledge but rather to serve as a compendium and guide to the knowledge that has been developing and evolving over the past four decades. Now in Version 3.0, the Guide's 15 knowledge areas summarize generally accepted topics and list references for detailed information. The editors for Version 3.0 of the SWEBOK(R) Guide are Pierre Bourque (Ecole de technologie superieure (ETS), Universite du Quebec) and Richard E. (Dick) Fairley (Software and Systems Engineering Associates (S2EA)).

Industrial Strength Formal Methods in Practice provides hands-on experience and guidance for anyone who needs to apply formal methods successfully in an industrial context. Each chapter is written by an expert in software engineering or formal methods, and contains background information, introductions to the techniques being used, actual fragments of formalised components, details of results and an analysis of the overall approach. It provides specific details on how to produce high-quality software that comes in on-time and within budget. Aimed mainly at practitioners in software engineering and formal methods, this book will also be of interest to the following groups; academic researchers working in formal methods who are interested in evidence of their success and in how they can be applied on an industrial scale, and students on advanced software engineering courses who need real-life specifications and examples on which to base their work.