After successful completion of the course, students are able to...

• make use of basic methods of computability theory in order to identify, for instance, undecidable problems
• apply formal methods from complexity theory to new problems in order to prove their tractability or NP-hardness,
• represent problems in the area of formal methods as satisfiability problems, to solve these problems with a SAT solver, and to formally argue the correctness of all involved techniques and reductions,
• formally establish partial and total correctness of software systems, by using  deductive verification approaches based on Hoare logic and predicate transformers. Students will also be able to formulate program semantics and prove program properties algorithmically,
• understand and apply the basic techniques of model checking: encoding specifications in temporal logic, reasoning about temporal logic formulae, model checking of temporal logic formulae on Kripke structures, using state space reduction techniques, and applying bounded model checking for verification tasks.

Introduction to complexity theory: problem reductions, P versus NP, undecidability; SAT solving and its applications in computer science; introduction to the formal semantics of programming languages; formal verification of programs; model checking and its applications in hard- and software verification.

The course is organized 4 blocks; each block consists of a lecture and consolidation part.

Lectures are provided via pre-recorded videos.

The consolidation part of each block has 3 live-lectures, in order to dicuss and solve examples. Students receive for each block a set of examples they have to solve. They receive individual feedback to their solutions.

Three additional classes are provided to recall basic proof techniques.

Please note: Depending on the currently required Covid measures, Q+A sessions might be online via Tuwel instead of in the lecture hall. Exams might be postponed or done via TUWEL.

Ects breakdown

  2 h introduction (first meeting)
 60 h lecture (20 dates à 2h + 1h preparation)
 40 h exercise sheets (4 sheets, 10 exercises/sheet, 1h/exercise)
 16 h discussion of exercises (8 dates à 2h)
 30 h preparation for written exam
  2 h written exam
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150 h = 6 Ects

The evaluation is based on a written exam.

For slides end exercises see the TUWEL online course.