How to select the suitable formal method for an industrial application: A survey

• Felix Kossak
• Atif Mashkoor

Despite extensive evangelizing and demonstration of several success stories, formal methods are still not widely practiced in day to day software and system engineering. One of the main reasons for this situation is the absence of systematic guidelines and evaluation criteria that help software practitioners choose the right formal method for the problem at hand. In this paper, we present a comprehensive set of criteria, based on systematic literature review and decade-long personal experience with application of rigorous methods in industrial projects, for evaluating and comparing different formal methods. We argue that besides technical grounds (e.g., modeling capabilities and supported development phases), formal methods should also be evaluated from social and industrial perspectives.