This chapter examines the role of formal methods within the software development process. In particular the case is made that the formal development paradigm, emphasising as it does abstraction, stepwise reification and the processes of justification fits in well with the traditional contractual model of software development. In so doing the activity of producing abstract specifications relates to the requirements analysis and specification phases, so necessary in large scale software production. The activity of reification equates with the tasks of producing system, sub-system or object level specifications. The justification process provides a basis for effectively structuring reviews and for arguing “why” a design is correct.

Inspec keywords: software metrics; software development management; systems analysis; formal specification

Other keywords: large scale software production; formal development; software development process; stepwise reification; software complexity management; requirements analysis; abstract specifications; justification process; formal methods; object level specification

Subjects: Software engineering techniques; Software metrics; Software management; Formal methods