A FAQ Approach for Collecting Evidence on Formal Method Industrial Usage.

Abstract

After several decades, formal methods are gaining ground in Industry. However, as pointed out by the results of Woodcock et al’s survey, formal methods still need significant additional effort in several areas, most notably in collecting evidence on the use of formal methods and tools in Industry. This article proposes an approach for building a repository of evidence material. The main benefits of the proposed approach are first to make it possible to integrate information for many Industry pilots that have tested diverse formal methods. The secondary benefit is that the current implementation of the approach has a ‘project on a forge’ and of the repository as a wiki of that project is simple yet efficient in managing access and contribution rights. Nonetheless, the shortcomings of the current implementation are also reviewed.