Formal methods: mathematics, computer science or software engineering?

Formal methods courses have been taught at UQAM, since the winter of 1996 in our graduate program, and since the winter of 1997 in our undergraduate program. In the graduate program: the course number was initially INF7160 (computer science) and later became MGL7160 (software engineering). Until recently, the undergraduate course number was MAT3143, a mathematics course. From these various affiliations, one can be lead to the following question regarding formal methods: are they part of mathematics, computer science, or software engineering? We try to shed some light on this question. First, we present some definitions characterizing these various disciplines. We also examine our students' background to see in which discipline they really belong. Next, we briefly explain what are formal methods and how they fit within the software development life cycle. We then outline the formal methods courses that we have been teaching at UQAM over the last few years and conclude with an informal assessment of these courses.