Editing Theoretical computer science (section)

===Formal methods===
{{main|Formal methods}}
[[Formal methods]] are a particular kind of [[mathematics]] based techniques for the [[formal specification|specification]], development and [[formal verification|verification]] of [[software]] and [[computer hardware|hardware]] systems.<ref name="butler">{{cite web|author=R. W. Butler|title=What is Formal Methods?|url=http://shemesh.larc.nasa.gov/fm/fm-what.html|date=2001-08-06|access-date=2006-11-16}}</ref> The use of formal methods for software and hardware design is motivated by the expectation that, as in other engineering disciplines, performing appropriate mathematical analysis can contribute to the reliability and robustness of a design.<ref>{{cite web|author=C. Michael Holloway|title=Why Engineers Should Consider Formal Methods|url=http://klabs.org/richcontent/verification/holloway/nasa-97-16dasc-cmh.pdf|publisher=16th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (27–30 October 1997)|access-date=2006-11-16|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061116210448/http://klabs.org/richcontent/verification/holloway/nasa-97-16dasc-cmh.pdf|archive-date=16 November 2006}}</ref>

Formal methods are best described as the application of a fairly broad variety of theoretical computer science fundamentals, in particular [[logic in computer science|logic]] calculi, [[formal language]]s, [[automata theory]], and [[program semantics]], but also [[type systems]] and [[algebraic data types]] to problems in software and hardware specification and verification.<ref>Monin, pp.3–4</ref>