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From: straub@jogger.cs.umd.edu (Pablo A. Straub)
Newsgroups: comp.specification
Subject: Re: The best tutorial on formal specifications
Message-ID: <34698@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 20 May 91 22:40:14 GMT
References: <34341@mimsy.umd.edu>
Sender: news@mimsy.umd.edu
Reply-To: straub@cs.umd.edu (Pablo A. Straub)
Organization: U. of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, College Park, MD 20742
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Thanks to all who responded to my request about "The  best  tutorial  on
formal  specifications",  for  undergraduates  taking  a first course on
software engineering.  Since there was enough interest,  I'm summarizing
here.

Before getting the responses, my initial candidates where  C.A.R. Hoare,
"An  Overview  of  Some  Formal  Methods  for Program Design", Computer,
September 1987, and articles from September 1990 of both  IEEE  Software
and Computer.  I found some consistency with these responses.

Pablo Straub
straub@cs.umd.edu


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From: xexeo@cernvax.cern.ch (geraldo xexeo)

There are VERY good papers of Z, that  you  can  use  as  tutorials  for
formal  specifications,  in the Software Engineering Journal of Jan. 89.
Specially, there is "An introduction to Z and formal specifications"  by
J. Spivey, which I consider the best I saw until now.
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From: elkassas@eb.ele.tue.nl (sherif el kassas)

The specification of complex systems by B. Cohen, W.T. Harwood and  M.I.
Jackson.  -  Amsterdam  :  Addison-Wesley,  1986.  -  XII, 143 p. - ISBN
0-201-14400-X. A nice introduction. It builds up the argument/motivation
for using formal  methods.  It's  most  important  feature  is  that  it
compares  and  overviews the main approaches to formal methods (i.e. the
process, model, and algebraic approaches).

I would also  suggest  the  following  IEEE  special  issues  on  formal
methods:

- IEEE  Transaction  on  Software  Engineering,  volume  16,  number  9,
  September 1990.

- IEEE Software, September 1990. A must read in this issue: "Seven myths
  of formal methods", by A. Hall, pages 11-19", I think it won the  best
  IEEE paper of 1990.

- IEEE Computer, September 1990.
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From: horning@src.dec.com (Jim Horning)

Look and Jeannette Wing's in (I think) the September 1990 IEEE COMPUTER,
special issue on formal methods.
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From: maa@SEI.CMU.EDU (Mark A. Ardis)

Jeannette Wing's tutorial in 9/90 IEEE Computer is my pick for the
best tutorial paper.
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From: bourd@cps.msu.edu (Robert Bourdeau)

As a motivational paper, how about David Gries paper in CACM a couple of
months ago. "Towards a More Effective Curriculum".  It's  easy  reading,
has  some  thought  provoking  ideas,  and introduces the formal methods
approach.
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From: sergio@cs.umd.edu (Sergio Cardenas)

Mathematics of Programming, C.A.R. Hoare, Byte, August 1986, pp. 115-126.
This may be appropriate to a more general audience.
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