Formalism and Intuition in Software Engineering

Abstract

A major and so far unmet challenge in software engineering is to achieve and act upon a clear and sound understanding of the relationship between formalism and intuition in the development process. The challenge is salient in the development of cyber-physical systems, in which the computer interacts with the human and physical world to ensure a behaviour there that satisfies the requirements of the system’s stakeholders. The nature of the computer as a formally defined symbol-processing engine invites a formal mathematical approach to software development. Contrary considerations militate against excessive reliance on formalism. The non-formal nature of the human and physical world, the complexity of system function, and the need for human comprehension at every level demand application of non-formal and intuitional knowledge, of insight and technique rather than calculation. The challenge, then, is to determine how these two facets of the development process—formalism and intuition—can work together most productively. This short essay describes some origins and aspects of the challenge and offers a perspective for addressing it.