Jonathan P Bowen and Victoria Stavridou (University of London)
1992, 36pp.
Standards concerned with the development of safety-critical systems, and the software in such systems in particular, abound today as the software crisis increasingly affects the world of embedded computer-based systems. The use of formal methods is often advocated as a way of increasing confidence in such systems. This paper examines the industrial use of these techniques, the recommendations concerning formal methods in a number of current and draft standards, and comments on the applicability and problems of using formal methods for the development of safety-critical systems of an industrial scale. Some possible future directions are suggested.
Another version of this paper was published in the IEE/BCS Software Engineering Journal, 8(4), pp 189-209, July 1993, and was winner of the IEE Charles Babbage Premium award, 1994.
A version of the paper also appears as a chapter in the book Towards Verified Systems.