# Towards A Broader Acceptance Of Formal Verification Tools: The Role Of Education

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how formal verification tools can be more widely adopted in software development by improving education and tool usability, based on a user study with students using the AutoProof tool.

## Contribution

It highlights the importance of tailored teaching programs and improved tool functionalities to enhance formal methods adoption in practice.

## Key findings

- Students face specific usability challenges with AutoProof.
- Enhanced education with prerequisite courses can improve adoption.
- Tool improvements and education modifications are recommended.

## Abstract

Formal methods yet advantageous, face challenges towards wide acceptance and adoption in software development practices. The major reason being presumed complexity. The issue can be addressed by academia with a thoughtful plan of teaching and practise. The user study detailed in this paper is examining AutoProof tool with the motivation to identify complexities attributed to formal methods. Participants' (students of Masters program in Computer Science) performance and feedback on the experience with formal methods assisted us in extracting specific problem areas that effect tool usability. The study results infer, along with improvements in verification tool functionalities, teaching program must be modified to include pre-requisite courses to make formal methods easily adapted by students and promoting their usage in software development process.