The Way of Z: Practical Programming with Formal Methods

by Jonathan Jacky

Overview

This self-contained tutorial on Z presents realistic case studies emphasizing safety-critical systems, with examples drawn from embedded controls, real-time and concurrent programming, computer graphics, games, text processing, databases, artificial intelligence, and object-oriented programming. It motivates the use of formal methods and discusses practical issues concerning how to apply them in real projects. It also teaches how to apply formal program derivation and verification to implement Z specifications in real programming languages with examples in C. The book includes exercises with solutions, reference materials, and a guide to further reading.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521559768
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/28/1996
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	372
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.91(d)

Table of Contents

Part I. Why Z?: 1. Formal methods; 2. Why use formal methods?; 3. Formal methods and project management; Part II. Introducing Z: 4. What is Z?; 5. A first example in Z; 6. From prose to Z: control console; 7. Introducing schemas: text editor; Part III. Elements of Z: 8. Elements; 9. Structure; 10. Logic; 11. Synthesis; 12. Schemas and schema calculus; 13. Schema types and bindings; 14. Generic definitions and free types; 15. Formal reasoning; Part IV. Studies in Z: 16. Document control system; 17. Text processing; 18. Eight queens; 19. Computer graphics and computational geometry; 20. Rule-based programming; 21. Graphical user interface; 22. Safety-critical protection system; 23. Modelling large systems; 24. Concurrency and real time; 25. Object-oriented programming; Part V. From Z to Code: 26. Program derivation and formal verification; 27. From Z to code.

Editorial Reviews

'… this reviewer cannot imagine a book better suited to inspiring the sceptical hacker into believing that there is some genuine value in formal methods.' R. H. Banach, Axis

'… most books about Z emphasise the mathematics, … The Way of Z breaks out of this mould to make Z relevant and accessible to all programmers. It is an ideal first or second-year book for students of computing science who want to design and write reliable programs.' Harold Thimbleby, New Scientist

'… especially good for more advanced students … this book will be inspirational and provide practical guidance to real software engineers.' Computer Journal

From the Publisher