Formal Software Verification Measures Up

The modern world runs on software. However, there is a catch: computer code often contains programming errors--some small, some large. These glitches can lead to unexpected results--and systematic failures. "In many cases, software flaws don't make any difference. In other cases, they can cause massive problems," says Kathleen Fisher, professor and chair of the computer science department at Tufts University and a former official of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).