[Apologies if you receive multiple copies of this announcement]
There will be 2 evening seminars in June: 7 June (Tom Maibaum) and
21 June (Anthony Hall). Details of Anthony Hall's talk follow.
BCS-FACS Evening Seminar Series
Realising the Benefits of Formal Methods
Dr Anthony Hall
Consultant
21 June 2006
5.45pm start
BCS London Offices
First Floor,
The Davidson Building
5 Southampton Street
London WC2E 7HA
What do formal methods really offer to software engineers? When should
they be
used? Who should use them? Where do they fit into the development process?
What benefits - if any - do they really bring?
There are several quite different ways of answering these questions. I
will take a
critical look at some of the answers that have been proposed, and in
particular ask
whether the answers given by the formal methods research community are
borne
out in practice.
I will describe in some detail one particular approach, Correctness by
Construction.
This is highly successful - and I have the numbers to prove it - but it
is deeply
unfashionable and almost nobody uses it. I will look at the reasons for
its success
and try to understand its lack of appeal.
Finally I will look at the implications for research and development.
Are we
researching the right topics? Are we developing the right tools? What
are the real
grand challenges of formal methods? What is needed to bring them into
everyday use?
Refreshments will be served from 5.15pm
The seminar is free of charge and open to everyone. If you would like to
attend, please email
Paul Boca [[log in to unmask]] your name by 18 June 2006.
Pre-registration is required,
as security at the BCS Offices is tight.
Location of the venue: http://www.bcs.org/upload/img/londonsscolour.jpg
FACS Evening Seminars: http://www.bcs-facs.org/events/EveningSeminars
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