First Steps in the Verified Software Grand Challenge

Bugs have become an unpleasant fact for software producers. Awareness is growing in industry that something must be done about software reliability. A growing number of academic and industrial researchers believe that the way to revolutionize the production of software is by using formal methods, and they also believe that doing so is now feasible. Given the right computer-based tools, the use of formal methods will become widespread, transforming the practice of software engineering. The computer science research community is collaborating to develop verification technology that will demonstrably enhance the productivity and reliability with which software is designed, developed, integrated, and maintained