Formal Methods

(Benefits, Challenges, and Future Direction)

Sobia Saeed
(Department of Software Engineering UAJK)
Abstract—there is an age of advance Formal methods are mathematical in
development of different software, most nature. Mathematical tool and technique
software is the benefit of formal methods. can apply in any part of software
Formal Methods is the mathematical tool development life cycle. The purpose
or technique Based on mathematical model
behind the promotion of formal approach
and formal logic that are used to verify and
specify the requirement and design for was the denotation in software
hardware and software system. Most of entanglement that began in the 1960s.
requirements are ambiguous, formal Around then software system was rapidly
methods benefits found the error in early getting to be more complex.
stage of development. Automating
Formal methods are a particular kind of
checking minimizes the rework, minimize
Mathematical technique use for
the cost and save time. This paper is the
Brief Analysis of formal methods benefits, specification. development and
issues and Future direction. This will help verification of a software and hardware
the software Engineer in Using Formal system. Representation used for formal
method in development of software. methods is formal specification language.
Formal methods Consist of writing formal
Key Words: Formal Methods, description analyzing that description and,
Requirement elicitation, Formal in some cases, producing new description.
Specification, Feasibility Analysis.
The use of mathematic in design and
Introduction; In Current commercial construction to ensure product quality is
environment for the success of software common practice in established
Project, required functionality is checked engineering discipline, such as bridge or
either fulfil the purpose or not for which it aircraft building, and even computer
is developed. In day by day, competition in hardware construction. Uses of formal
market is dramatically increase and methods in specification phase produce a
demand for higher quality product in very useful document. Specification is a
cheaper rate. Many IT companies face practical agreement between customer and
difficulty to release the product within the developer.at implementation phase formal
budget and given time limit. No of error in methods is utilized for checking code of
development of software affect the soft software. Coding can immediately be
development. Due to some issues formal produced from models provided by formal
method still not use in commercial level in methods.
market. Formal languages are a language
in which syntax and semantic are properly
defined by using mathematical notation.
Literature Overview mathematically expressed physical and
other natural laws to model a problem that
Boehm B. W. in his research paper deals with the behavior of concrete
(software engineering Economics) that systems in the physical world.[3]
many IT companies face the difficulty of Geer, P.A. Propose there was a clear need
releasing products of quality on time and for new techniques that might permit
within the limits of approved budget. The engineers to understand complication.
number of errors found during Formal methods made this practical by
development strongly affects the software giving a mathematical framework for
metrics mentioned above. If the problem is investigating projects At the
identified earlier during program implementation stage, the use of formal
development, then it helps in reducing the methods is utilized for checking code of
project budget [1]. software. The inductive statement strategy
Pressman Roger S in his book ”software for project confirmation was imagined by
engineering” When an error that was Floyd and Hoare and involves explaining
introduced in the requirements phase is the system with scientific declarations,
found during testing, software engineers which are associations that are between the
must fix the incorrect requirements, check variables of system and the beginning
all of the ramifications through design and principles; each one time control, achieves
implementation and finally retest the a specific focus of the system. Coding can
product. In order to build a secure software additionally be produced immediately
product and overcome the problem of from models provided by formal methods
overrun of budget (which occurs due to [4].
errors in requirement specifications), cost- Woodcock, J.I.M. and Bicarregui, J. in his
effective methods are required that address research states that Formal methods are
the major risks and that provide tangible used in software requirement specification
evidence of trustworthiness. Formal preparing an accurate report of what the
methods are the solution to the above software needs to do, and avoiding
stated problems. Formal methods are a conditions on how it is to be attained [5].
particular kind of mathematical techniques Bowen, J.P. and Hinchey, M.G. in his
meant for the specification, development research paper state that formal methods at
and verification of software and hardware the stage of formal specification can create
systems. The representation used in formal very useful documentation [6].
methods is called a formal specification Comparative Analysis
language. [2].
Rushby John: In “Formal Methods and the This paper has presented different aspect
Certification of Critical Systems” Formal Of formal methods. The major defects
methods consist of writing formal arise in software development due to poor
descriptions, analyzing those descriptions requirements analysis. Furthermore,
and in some cases producing new formal methods are only part of the
descriptions. They can be applied in solution to the problem related to
different phases of development process. requirement analysis and success depends
They are even becoming integral crucially on integrating them into a larger
components of standards. According to process. This paper helps the researcher/s
Rushby the use of mathematics in design and developers to understand the potential
and construction to ensure product quality usefulness of formal methods along with
is common practice in established challenges usually faced in making formal
engineering disciplines, such as bridge or methods practical. Significant need in
aircraft building, and even computer software development is needed to make
(hardware) construction, where one applies all the methods to be more specific for the
requirements phase because requirements advantages i.e. maximize automation with
are basic building block on which the automated tools, automatic verification
entire software can be built. This work improvement cost saving, defect reduction
motivates software and quality improvement. These benefits
b.Work may be done to reduce the cost of are the stimulus to use formal methods in
using formal methods in different phases commercial software industry. By
of SDLC. applying formal methods in commercial
c. Identifying and addressing various software industry batter results can be
formal specification verification tools. achieved as compared to other approaches
d. Further research is required to make use shown by survey results. The purpose of
of abstraction in combining multiple this research is to promote formal methods
mathematical theories. for commercial application software in
e. It is needed to scale up the notations of industry.
formal methods and the tool support to
make it easy to use.
f. Work may be commenced on optimizing
methods and tools for finding errors so that
correctness to the system is identified.
g. Research may be carried out to amortize
the cost of a method or tool over many
uses. It should be possible to derive
benefits from a single specification at
several points in a program’s life cycle: in
design analysis, code optimization and
testing.
h. Work may be initiated on developing a
tool that helps in understanding how to
compose methods, specifications, models,
theories, and proofs.
i. A new mathematical model may also be
developed for checking the completeness
and logical consistency of requirements
specification engineers to incorporate
security in requirement phase so that
product quality can be achieved.
For many years, it was advocated that
applying formal methods in software
development would help industry
congregate its goals of producing an
enhanced software process and increasing
quality of software. De-spite claimed
benefits and usability in each phase of
software development, formal methods are
still not widely used by commercial
software companies. Formal methods have
not been widely used in industry due to a
number of barriers. We have identified
barriers of formal methods for commercial
applications and then provide their
solution. Formal methods offer several