When Students Choose to Use Event-B in their Software Engineering Projects

TL;DR

This paper investigates why most software engineering students do not apply formal methods like Event-B in their projects, despite learning them in coursework, and analyzes the benefits and challenges faced by those who do.

Contribution

It provides insights into student decision-making regarding formal methods use and shares empirical feedback on the practical impact of using Event-B in projects.

Findings

Some students found formal methods helpful in ensuring correctness.

Others experienced difficulties integrating formal methods into project workflows.

Use of formal methods was generally limited despite learning them in coursework.

Abstract

Students often learn formal methods as part of a software engineering degree programme, without applying these formal methods outside of the specific module(s) dedicated to this subject. In particular, software engineering students often have to build a significant application/program/system in a substantial project at the end of their programme (in order to demonstrate the application of the things they have learned during the previous taught modules). Our experience shows that the majority of students do not use formal methods in this project work. We report on feedback from the minority of students who did choose to use formal methods in their projects, and give examples of where this was a help and where it was a hindrance.