There are multiple problems here, and they all stems from a lot of misunderstandings.
Disclaimer : i do have a maths background and formal methods do have their use. But not in the general case.
>they are for programming (as in math) a well-defined, solid formal system that solid systems can be built on
Except you forget one big thing. Maths do not deal with errors or real world complexity. Maths exists by themselves in a world where errors and failure at other level do not exists. And i will not even talk about Gödel incompleteness or Turing proof of the the halting problem as other fundamentals mistakes here.
> can be built on in a way that nothing else can be in software, at least thus far.
What about System Engineering? Because guess what? Other complex systems exists in the Nuclear, Space, Chemical or Aviation industry. And they are not developed with formal proof... and they still do work... But they use Engineering, proper one. Not wishful thinking and all.
>In a world where software flows more freely than water, the correctness and reliability of software systems must be taken with utmost seriousness.
There is a really really small but essential mistake here. Two to be honest. The first one is that any sufficiently big software can not be proven correct and reliable. That is what Complexity Theory tell us.
But most importantly, it does show a complete lack of knowledge of the meaning of the word reliability and the research in Complex System. Reliable and Correct systems are inherently dangerous. What you want is a system that is SAFE. A system that is Safe, is a system that accept to do the "wrong" thing if it is the safe things to do.
>What do you propose as the theoretical basis for the engineering science of software development?
Complex System. SNAFU catching. Stop trying to ignore the stack we live in and begin to think about runtime instead of over complex architecture. Safe guards and operators. Debugging as a first class citizen. Bulkheading and recovery. In general, System Engineering and Human Factors.
PS: oh by the way, to everyone saying that other Engineering discipline are based on rigid step-by-step methodology that enforce correctness. It is not. It is even more a mess with slower feedback loop. I worked in other engineering fields before IT and it is not really better. It seems to be really American to believe in the "scientific method". But that does not exist. The world outside is messy and complex.
Try accepting that. There are solutions, but by living in a dream, you are working around the bug instead of fixing it.
>they are for programming (as in math) a well-defined, solid formal system that solid systems can be built on
Except you forget one big thing. Maths do not deal with errors or real world complexity. Maths exists by themselves in a world where errors and failure at other level do not exists. And i will not even talk about Gödel incompleteness or Turing proof of the the halting problem as other fundamentals mistakes here.
> can be built on in a way that nothing else can be in software, at least thus far. What about System Engineering? Because guess what? Other complex systems exists in the Nuclear, Space, Chemical or Aviation industry. And they are not developed with formal proof... and they still do work... But they use Engineering, proper one. Not wishful thinking and all.
>In a world where software flows more freely than water, the correctness and reliability of software systems must be taken with utmost seriousness. There is a really really small but essential mistake here. Two to be honest. The first one is that any sufficiently big software can not be proven correct and reliable. That is what Complexity Theory tell us.
But most importantly, it does show a complete lack of knowledge of the meaning of the word reliability and the research in Complex System. Reliable and Correct systems are inherently dangerous. What you want is a system that is SAFE. A system that is Safe, is a system that accept to do the "wrong" thing if it is the safe things to do.
>What do you propose as the theoretical basis for the engineering science of software development? Complex System. SNAFU catching. Stop trying to ignore the stack we live in and begin to think about runtime instead of over complex architecture. Safe guards and operators. Debugging as a first class citizen. Bulkheading and recovery. In general, System Engineering and Human Factors.
You can begin with reading web.mit.edu/2.75/resources/random/How%20Complex%20Systems%20Fail.pdf then follow with Nancy Leveson free book https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/engineering-safer-world .
PS: oh by the way, to everyone saying that other Engineering discipline are based on rigid step-by-step methodology that enforce correctness. It is not. It is even more a mess with slower feedback loop. I worked in other engineering fields before IT and it is not really better. It seems to be really American to believe in the "scientific method". But that does not exist. The world outside is messy and complex.
Try accepting that. There are solutions, but by living in a dream, you are working around the bug instead of fixing it.