Effect of formal specifications on program complexity and reliability: An experimental studyThe results are presented of an experimental study undertaken to assess the improvement in program quality by using formal specifications. Specifications in the Z notation were developed for a simple but realistic antimissile system. These specifications were then used to develop 2 versions in C by 2 programmers. Another set of 3 versions in Ada were independently developed from informal specifications in English. A comparison of the reliability and complexity of the resulting programs suggests the advantages of using formal specifications in terms of number of errors detected and fault avoidance.
Document ID
19920010192
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Goel, Amrit L. (Syracuse Univ. NY, United States)
Sahoo, Swarupa N. (Syracuse Univ. NY, United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
November 1, 1990
Publication Information
Publication: NASA. Goddard Space Flight Center, Proceedings of the 15th Annual Software Engineering Workshop