"Much of the practical work done in computing, both in software and hardware design, could be better because the people who do it need to understand the fundamental design principles of their work clearly. Most abstract mathematical and theoretical work is sterile because it has no point of contact with real computing."
Strachey called for an end to the artificial and injurious separation of practical and theoretical work in programming.
History
Formal Aspects of Computing was founded in 1989 by the BCS in an initiative led by John Cooke, Dan Simpson, and Cliff Jones, all of whom were members of the BCS Formal Aspects of Computing Specialist Group. Cliff Jones was the founding editor, and Springer was the initial publisher. Cliff Jones was Editor-in-Chief from 1989 to 2007. Jim Woodcock took over as Editor-in-Chief in 2007. Since 2025, Einar Broch Johnsen and Maurice ter Beek are joint Editors-in-Chief.
Formal Aspects of Computing publishes contributions at the junction of theory and practice. The principal aim of FAC is to promote the growth of computing science, show its relation to practice, and stimulate applications of appropriate formalisms to practical problems. One significant challenge is to show how a range of formal models can be related to each other. In particular, the scope of Formal Aspects of Computing includes:[4]
Well-founded notations for the description and specification of systems.
Methods for verifiable system design.
Elucidation of fundamental computational concepts and models.
Approaches to fault-tolerant design.
Verification tools and theorem proving.
State-exploration tools and model checking.
Formal semantics for widely used notations and methods.
Formal approaches to requirements analysis.
Other contributions
In addition to research papers, the journal includes other contributions such as:[citation needed]
Special issues: Proposals for special issues from leading members of the formal methods community. Appropriate proposals include:
Conferences and workshops: Revised collections of papers.
Thematic topics: Collections of papers dedicated to hot topics in formal methods, usually with an open call for papers.
State-of-the-art reports: In-depth, scholarly analyses of essential research areas.
History of ideas The history of ideas traces the origin and development of formal methods and their tools.
Book reviews: Critical reviews of formal methods research monographs and teaching textbooks.
Obituaries: Obituaries usually describe and celebrate the lives of the most successful researchers through seminal contributions to formal methods.
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