Experience with formal methods in protocol development

Communication protocols are complex software systems and key components of computer networks. They must be specified completely and implemented correctly. The development of a protocol typically involves several tedious steps. Experience has shown that the use of informal techniques in these steps of protocol development generally produces systems with errors and undesirable behaviors. Formal methods permit the development of highly reliable and easily maintainable communication protocols. This paper presents our experience with using formal methods in the specification, verification, implementation, and conformance testing of OSI protocols.

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