Formal methods and continuous change: towards a happy marriage

1 ottobre 2015
1 ottobre 2015

Time: 3:00 pm
Location: Meeting Room Garda, Polo Scientifico e Tecnologico "Fabio Ferrari" (Building Povo 1), via Sommarive 5 - Povo, Trento 

Speaker

  • Prof. Carlo Ghezzi, Politecnico di Milano

Abstract 

Formal methods have now matured to a stage where models of real systems and complex programs can be verified against realistic requirements specifications through efficient procedures. Automated dependability assurances  for real-life systems have become possible. Why mainstream software development processes still largely ignore formal methods? Why, for example, has test-driven development shaped iterative, change-oriented, agile processes while formal modelling and verification are largely dismissed? Why is software evolution and change still practiced with little or no use of formal methods? I will argue that a not-to-be-missed opportunity exists today for software engineering research  to remedy this unfortunate divergence between modern development processes and formal methods. More generally, I will argue that formal methods and continuous change can be reconciled and combined through a happy marriage. I will discuss why this is important and I will argue about what should be done to make this happen. I will get to this point by looking backwards at a number of past research efforts, including some personal experience reports, trying to identify what lead to the current stage, making the happy marriage now possible.

About the Speaker 

Carlo Ghezzi is  a Professor and Chair of Software Engineering. He has been the Rector’s delegate for research, past member of the Academic Senate and of the Board of Governors, and past Department Chair. He held temporary or visiting positions at the University of California at Los Angeles, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Padova, ESLAI-Argentina, University of California at Santa Barbara, Technical University of Vienna, University of Klagenfurt. Carlo Ghezzi has an Adjunct Professor position at the Faculty of Informatics of the University of Lugano. He is an ACM Fellow, IEEE Fellow, Member of Academia Europaea, Member of the Italian Academy of Scineces (Istituto Lombardo). He has been awarded the 2006 ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Service Award. He is the current President of Informatics Europe and he has been on the evaluation board of several international research projects and institutions in Europe, Japan, and the USA. He is a regular member of the program committee of important conferences in the software engineering field, such as the  ICSE and ESEC/FSE, for which he also served as Program and General Chair. He has given keynotes at several international conferences, including ESEC/FSE and ICSE. Prof. Ghezzi has been the Editor in Chief of the ACM Trans. on Software Engineering and Methodology (from 2001 till 2006) and he is currently an Associate Editor of Communications of the ACM, Science of Computer Programming, Service Oriented Computing and Applications, and Computing. His research has been focusing on software engineering and programming languages. Currently, he is especially interested in methods and tools to improve dependability of adaptable and evolvable distributed applications, such as service-oriented architectures and ubiquitous/pervasive computer applications. He co-authored over 200 papers and 8 books. He coordinated several national and international (EU funded) research projects and he has been awarded an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council.

Contact Person regarding this Talk:
Paolo Giorgini, paolo.giorgini [at] unitn.it