Save our Science: Experiences in lightweight verification for computational science and what you can do to help

Dominic Orchard, University of Kent

Abstract:

Programming now plays a key role in science, with many models now
expressed as large, complex pieces of software. This complexity
(sometimes inherent, sometimes accidental) presents a challenge for
science as the impact of programming errors can be significant. Whilst
there has been significant progress in program verification over the
last two decades, little of this is used (or usable) by scientists. In
this talk, I'll discuss the challenges and opportunities in this
domain. I'll discuss experiences from the last five years of the
CamFort project on developing lightweight verification techniques for
science. The talk will include some demonstrations of our tool in
action and advice on how you can get involved to help.