Research Lines

There are basically two ways in which to tackle the problem of software quality and reliability. While the first one addresses the development of methods and tools for (semi)automatically checking properties of existing software and debugging it (possibly also [semi-]automatically), the second one proposes methodologies (guided by tools and supported by high-level programming languages) in order to generate correct code starting from the early stages of development. Both ideas are compatible and should coexist in practice. Moreover, they share some basic technology. The research program proposes scientific advances in both areas trying to make use of the synergy in the collaboration in order to reuse the common bases, with the following overall scientific objectives:

• Development of programming environments, specification and declarative languages with rigorous mathematical foundations, that can faithfully model real software industry problems.
  We will cover aspects of design, definition and implementation,that in most cases will be conceived as extensions or improvements of languages and systems already developed in our groups.
• Implementation and foundations of tools for development, validation and verification of those languages, promoting their effective use in industrial settings.
• Methodologies for software development, based on the previous languages and tools, guaranteeing quality and safety of code

We remark that existing and future tools will be free software with open source code.

The progressive introduction of rigorous technologies in software development processes at the industrial level requires increasing the number of professionals acquainted with them. In this sense, PROMESAS-CM pursues the following:

• The convergence of research and teaching at postgraduate levels in our Universities, and integration in the European Space on Higher Education.
• The dissemination of scientific advances, through a plan for continuous training with participation of the companies associated to PROMESAS-CM, as well as a plan for transferring technology.