Making formal methods work: what is being done and what can be done

Despite the apparent advantages offered by formal methods, industry has been very slow to take on the techniques involved. This paper attributes some of this reticence to a lack of clear guidance on where and how formal methods fit into the software engineering process. The paper distinguishes between formal methods techniques for modelling and reasoning about systems mathematically and a formal development process a defined process for specifying, constructing and maintaining software using formal techniques. The application of formal methods in a development process are discussed and examples of a few of the industrially-oriented processes currently in use are described. These are: (i) RAISE; (ii) Cleanroom; and (iii) the formal specification of classes in object-oriented software development. Conclusions are drawn on the approach that might be taken to introducing formal techniques as a routine aspect of software development.