Ganesh Gopalakrishnan

Computation Engineering:: Formal Specification and Verification Methods Ganesh Gopalakrishnan 1st edition

Many textbooks on formal methods and verification do an excellent job of discussing theory -- often at the loss of providing examples.  Computation Engineering: Formal Specification and Verification Methods presents formal methods with a concentration on practical applications, thus acting as a fast-track introduction to modern formal specification and verification tools and techniques.  By using a wide array of puzzles, problems, industry case studies, and a variety of varification tools, students have the opportunity to learn from experience rather than rote memorization.

In using this textbook, students are asked to design protocols, discover properties to state, and thus learn what exactly the whole process of formal verification involves.  By inventing new concurrent protocols and then proving them correct, they are saved from simply re-visiting standard protocols, instead learning to think through the process for themselves.

By using actual examples, students learn why certain methods work well, what they are lacking, and how to compare and contrast methods.  Thus, they learn how to think rather than what to think.