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Journal Article•DOI•

Program verification: the very idea

James H. Fetzer1•
University of Minnesota1
01 Sep 1988-Communications of The ACM (ACM)-Vol. 31, Iss: 9, pp 1048-1063
TL;DR: The success of program verification as a generally applicable and completely reliable method for guaranteeing program performance is not even a theoretical possibility.
Abstract: The notion of program verification appears to trade upon an equivocation. Algorithms, as logical structures, are appropriate subjects for deductive verification. Programs, as causal models of those structures, are not. The success of program verification as a generally applicable and completely reliable method for guaranteeing program performance is not even a theoretical possibility.
Citations
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Journal Article•DOI•
Verification, Validation, and Confirmation of Numerical Models in the Earth Sciences

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Naomi Oreskes1, Kristin Shrader-Frechette2, Kenneth Belitz1•
Dartmouth College1, University of South Florida2
04 Feb 1994-Science
TL;DR: Verification and validation of numerical models of natural systems is impossible because natural systems are never closed and because model results are always nonunique.
Abstract: Verification and validation of numerical models of natural systems is impossible. This is because natural systems are never closed and because model results are always nonunique. Models can be confirmed by the demonstration of agreement between observation and prediction, but confirmation is inherently partial. Complete confirmation is logically precluded by the fallacy of affirming the consequent and by incomplete access to natural phenomena. Models can only be evaluated in relative terms, and their predictive value is always open to question. The primary value of models is heuristic.

2,909 citations

Cites background from "Program verification: the very idea..."

  • ...However, the use of the term "verification" to describe this activity has led to extremely contentious debate [see Fetzer (1988), in (12) and letters in response in Commun....

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Journal Article•DOI•
Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. Edited by I. Lakatos and A. Musgrave. Pp. viii, 282. £3·50, paperback £1. 1970. (Cambridge University Press.)

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T. A. A. Broadbent
01 Feb 1972-The Mathematical Gazette

2,839 citations

Journal Article•DOI•
Using formal specifications to support testing

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Robert M. Hierons1, Kirill Bogdanov2, Jonathan P. Bowen3, Rance Cleaveland4, John Derrick2, Jeremy Dick, Marian Gheorghe2, Mark Harman3, Kalpesh Kapoor5, Paul Krause6, Gerald Lüttgen7, Anthony J. H. Simons2, Sergiy Vilkomir8, Martin R. Woodward, Hussein Zedan9 •
Brunel University London1, University of Sheffield2, King's College London3, University of Maryland, College Park4, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati5, University of Surrey6, University of York7, University of Tennessee8, De Montfort University9
23 Feb 2009-ACM Computing Surveys
TL;DR: The state of the art regarding ways in which the presence of a formal specification can be used to assist testing is reviewed.
Abstract: Formal methods and testing are two important approaches that assist in the development of high-quality software. While traditionally these approaches have been seen as rivals, in recent years a new consensus has developed in which they are seen as complementary. This article reviews the state of the art regarding ways in which the presence of a formal specification can be used to assist testing.

367 citations

Additional excerpts

  • ...L¨ uttgen, Department of Computer Science, University of York, Heslington, York, Y010 5DD, U.K.; email: Gerald.luettgen@cs.york.ac.uk; S. Vilkomir, Department of Computer Science, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858; email: vilkomirs@ecu.edu; H. Zedan, Software Technology Laboratory,…...

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Book•
A Framework for Web Science

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Tim Berners-Lee1, Wendy Hall2, James A. Hendler3, Kieron O'Hara2, Nigel Shadbolt2, Daniel J. Weitzner1 •
Massachusetts Institute of Technology1, University of Southampton2, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute3
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: This text sets out a series of approaches to the analysis and synthesis of the World Wide Web, and other web-like information structures, and a comprehensive set of research questions is outlined, together with a sub-disciplinary breakdown, emphasising the multi-faceted nature of the Web.
Abstract: This text sets out a series of approaches to the analysis and synthesis of the World Wide Web, and other web-like information structures. A comprehensive set of research questions is outlined, together with a sub-disciplinary breakdown, emphasising the multi-faceted nature of the Web, and the multi-disciplinary nature of its study and development. These questions and approaches together set out an agenda for Web Science, the science of decentralised information systems. Web Science is required both as a way to understand the Web, and as a way to focus its development on key communicational and representational requirements. The text surveys central engineering issues, such as the development of the Semantic Web, Web services and P2P. Analytic approaches to discover the Web's topology, or its graph-like structures, are examined. Finally, the Web as a technology is essentially socially embedded; therefore various issues and requirements for Web use and governance are also reviewed.

343 citations

Journal Article•DOI•
Some pedagogical aspects of proof

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Gila Hanna1•
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education1
01 Mar 1990-Interchange
TL;DR: 1. formal proof: proof as a theoretical concept in formal logic (or metalogic), which may be thought of as the ideal which actual mathematical practice only approximates.
Abstract: 1. Formal proof: proof as a theoretical concept in formal logic (or metalogic), which may be thought of as the ideal which actual mathematical practice only approximates. 2. Acceptable proof: proof as a normative concept that defines what is acceptable to qualified mathematicians. 3. The teaching of proof: proof as an activity in mathematics education which serves to elucidate ideas worth conveying to the student.

268 citations

Cites background from "Program verification: the very idea..."

  • ...It can certainly be argued, as does Fetzer (1988), that "what makes (what we call) a proof a proof is its validity rather than its acceptance (by us) as v a l i d ....

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References
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Book•
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

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Thomas S. Kuhn
01 Jan 1962
TL;DR: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions as discussed by the authors is a seminal work in the history of science and philosophy of science, and it has been widely cited as a major source of inspiration for the present generation of scientists.
Abstract: A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, and we forget how provocative and challenging its ideas once were-and still are. "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" is that kind of book. When it was first published in 1962, it was a landmark event in the history and philosophy of science. And fifty years later, it still has many lessons to teach. With "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions", Kuhn challenged long-standing linear notions of scientific progress, arguing that transformative ideas don't arise from the day-to-day, gradual process of experimentation and data accumulation, but that revolutions in science, those breakthrough moments that disrupt accepted thinking and offer unanticipated ideas, occur outside of "normal science," as he called it. Though Kuhn was writing when physics ruled the sciences, his ideas on how scientific revolutions bring order to the anomalies that amass over time in research experiments are still instructive in our biotech age. This new edition of Kuhn's essential work in the history of science includes an insightful introductory essay by Ian Hacking that clarifies terms popularized by Kuhn, including paradigm and incommensurability, and applies Kuhn's ideas to the science of today. Usefully keyed to the separate sections of the book, Hacking's essay provides important background information as well as a contemporary context. Newly designed, with an expanded index, this edition will be eagerly welcomed by the next generation of readers seeking to understand the history of our perspectives on science.

36,808 citations

Journal Article•DOI•
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

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Thomas S. Kuhn, David Hawkins
01 Jul 1963-American Journal of Physics

34,393 citations

Book•
A Discipline of Programming

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Edsger W. Dijkstra
01 Jan 1976

4,719 citations

Journal Article•
An Axiomatic Basis for Computer Programming

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Tony Hoare
01 Jan 1969-Communications of The ACM

4,463 citations

Book•
Conjectures and Refutations

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Karl Popper, George E. Hudson
01 Jan 1963

4,061 citations

"Program verification: the very idea..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Indeed, some of the most interesting reactions have come from those whose position lies somewhere in between, such as van den Bos [37], who maintains that, “Once one accepts the quasi-empiricism in mathematics, and by analogy in computer science, one can either become an adherent of the Popperian school of conjectures (theories) and refutations [32], or one may believe Kuhn [23], who claims that the fate of scientific theories is decided by a social forum , ....

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  • ...Popper, K. R. Objective Knowledge....

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  • ...From a methodological point of view, it might be said that programs are conjectures, while executions a.re attempted-and all too frequently successful-refutations (in the spirit of Popper [32, 331)....

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  • ...re attempted-and all too frequently successful-refutations (in the spirit of Popper [32, 331)....

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  • ...Popper, K. R. Conjectures and Refutations....

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Related Papers (5)
An Axiomatic Basis for Computer Programming

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01 Jan 1969-Communications of The ACM
Tony Hoare
On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem

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01 Jan 1937-Proceedings of The London Mathematical Society
A. M. Turing
A Discipline of Programming

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01 Jan 1976
Edsger W. Dijkstra
No Silver Bullet Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering

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01 Apr 1987-IEEE Computer
Brooks
Assigning Meanings to Programs

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01 Jan 1993
Robert W. Floyd