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It's the Specification, Stupid!

In this article the authors challenge the current state of the test-fix-test coding cycles for software development and propose formal verification. The consideration of specification in formal verification is discussed as well as timing of verification. Topics include big specifications and front-l...

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Published in:Communications of the ACM Vol. 68; no. 12; pp. 22 - 25
Main Authors: Broy, Manfred, Ruess, Harald, Shankar, Natarajan
Format: Article
Published: Association for Computing Machinery Dec2025
Subjects:
Computer software development
Computer software quality control
Software verification
Language models
Programming languages
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Summary:In this article the authors challenge the current state of the test-fix-test coding cycles for software development and propose formal verification. The consideration of specification in formal verification is discussed as well as timing of verification. Topics include big specifications and front-loading as well as the role of large language models in this process.