Software analysis and model checking

Abstract

Most software developers today rely on only a small number of techniques to check their code for defects: peer review, code walkthroughs, and testing. Despite a rich literature on these subjects, the results often leave much to be desired. The current software testing process consumes a significant fraction of the overall resources in industrial software development, yet it cannot promise zero-defect code. There is reason to hope that the process can be improved. A range of tools and techniques has become available in the last few years that can asses the quality of code with considerably more rigor than before, and often also with more ease. Many of the new tools can be understood as applications of automata theory, and can readily be combined with logic model checking techniques.