Why Formal Methods Remain Unused Despite Their Potential
Why Don't People Use Formal Methods?
I explore the historical and practical barriers preventing the widespread adoption of formal methods in software development. While often dismissed as too expensive or unnecessary for non-critical systems, the real challenges lie in defining precise specifications and the steep learning curve required to translate human concepts into mathematical proofs. I argue that despite these hurdles, formal verification offers unique value in preventing crashes and security flaws that traditional testing often misses.
People assume that formal methods are widely used in high-assurance software and unnecessary for everything else; this, if anything, is too optimistic, as most people in high-assurance software don't actually use formal methods.