Assertions: a personal perspective

  • Authors:
  • C. A. R. Hoare

  • Affiliations:
  • Senior Researcher, Microsoft Research Ltd., Cambridge, England

  • Venue:
  • Software pioneers
  • Year:
  • 2002

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Abstract

It was my early experience in industry that triggered my interest in assertions and their in-program proofs; and my subsequent research at university extended the idea into a methodology for the specification and design of programs. Now that I have returned to work in industry, I have looked into the current role of assertions in industrial program development. My personal perspective illustrates the complementary roles of pure research, aimed at academic ideals of excellence, and the unexpected ways in which the results of such research contribute to the gradual improvement of engineering practice.