Formal Methods: Mathematics, Computer Science or Software
Engineering?
Formal methods courses have been taught at UQAM, since the winter of
1996 in our graduate program, and since the winter of 1997 in our
undergraduate program. In the graduate program, the course number was
initially INF7160 (computer science) and later became MGL7160
(software engineering). Until recently, the undergraduate course
number was MAT3143, a MAThematics course. From these various
affiliations, one can be lead to the following question regarding
formal methods: are they part of mathematics, computer science, or
software engineering? We try to shed some light on this question in
the current paper.
First, we present some definitions characterizing these various
disciplines. We also examine our students background to see in which
discipline they really belong. Next, we briefly explain what are formal
methods and how they fit within the software development life
cycle. We then outline the formal methods courses that we have been
teaching at UQAM over the last few years and conclude with an informal
assessment of these courses.
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