4th International Conference
of B and Z Users

Conference Theme

Topics

B and Z are two important formal methods which share a common conceptual origin; each is widely used in both academia and industry for the specification and verification of both hardware and software systems. In ZB2005 the B and Z communities are coming together to hold a joint conference which will simultaneously incorporate the 15th International Conference of Z Users and the 6th International Conference on the B Method. Although organised logistically as an integral event, editorial control of the joint conference remains vested in two separate programme committees which will respectively determine its B and Z content.

Accordingly, the two programme committees invite authors to submit papers on the B Method or the Z formal notation in particular, or on the use of similar formal approaches and formal methods in general. In particular, the programme committees encourage contributions focused on industrial applications, and therefore ask authors to specify if their submission is to be reviewed as an industrial application (see below). Accepted papers will be presented at the conference and included in the proceedings published by Springer.

The conference will also feature a range of contributions from distinguished invited speakers drawn from both industry and academia. The invited speakers will address significant recent industrial applications of formal methods, as well as important academic advances serving to enhance their potency and widen their applicability.

Besides its formal sessions the conference will feature tool demonstrations and publishers' displays. It is also envisaged that a programme of special tutorials may precede the main conference.

Topics

The topics of the conference include, but are not limited to:

1. Industrial applications and case studies using Z or using B
2. Integration of model-based specification methods in the software development lifecycle
3. Derivation of hardware-software architecture from model-based specifications
4. Expressing and validating requirements through formal models
5. Theoretical issues in formal development, (e.g. issues in refinement, the proof process, or proof validation, etc.)
6. Software testing versus proof-oriented development
7. Tools supporting the Z notation and the B method
8. Development by composition of specifications
9. Validation of COTS by model-based specification methods
10. Z and B extensions and/or standardization