Formal Methods at Scale

Abstract

This special issue of IEEE Security & Privacy offers some experience of how the formal methods (FM) community, working in partnership with sponsors and users, is achieving a broader use of this critical technology at increasing levels of scale. Formal methods have a rich history spanning a half-century. Mathematical proofs of the properties of programs have been sought since the early days of computing. Despite these aspirations, FMs have not broadly taken hold due to barriers of scale, usability, engineering realism, economics, available specially trained staff, and mission incentives. Indeed, for decades, FM tools and ecosystems could only operate on problems and systems of modest scale. There has, nonetheless, been a strong impetus to continue the advance of FM driven by emerging uses of computing hardware and software in critical systems, such as space and aircraft flight control, communication security, and cryptography.