View from the fringe of the fringe (Joint with CHARME 2001)

Abstract

Formal analysis remains outside the mainstream of system design practice. Theorem proving is regarded by many to be on the margin of exploratory and applied research activity in this formalized system design. Although it may seem relatively academic, it is vital that this avenue continue to be as vigorously explored as approaches favoring highly automated reasoning. Design derivation, a term for design formalisms based on transformations and equivalence, represents just a small twig on the theorem-proving branch of formal system analysis. A perspective on current trends in is presented from this remote outpost, including a review of the author’s work since the early 1980s. A full accompanying paper can be found in the CHARME 2001 proceedings[1].