The Z notation for the formal specification of computer based systems has been in existence since the early 1980s. Since then, an international Z community has emerged, academic and industrial courses have been developed, an ISO standard has been adopted, and Z has been used on a number of significant software development projects, especially where safety and security have been important. This chapter traces the history of the Z notation and presents issues in teaching Z, with examples. A specific example of an industrial course is presented. Although subsequent notations have been developed, with better tool support, Z is still an excellent choice for general purpose specification and is especially useful in directing software testing to ensure good coverage.
CITATION STYLE
Bowen, J. P. (2016). The z notation: Whence the cause and whither the course? In Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics) (Vol. 9506, pp. 103–151). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29628-9_3
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