Teaching Software Specification (Experience Report)

Abstract

A course on software specification deserves a prominent place in the undergraduate curriculum. This report describes our experience teaching a first-year course that places software specification front and center. In support of the course, we created a pedagogic programming language with a focus on contracts and property-based testing. Assignments draw on real-world programs, from a variety of domains, that are intended to show how formal specification can increase confidence in the correctness of code. Interviews with students suggest that this approach successfully conveys how formal specification is relevant to software construction.