1. Whither Formal? Moshe Y. Vardi Rice University

2. Ongoing Challenge: Complexity  We have only two ways to deal with increased complexity: Abstraction Tools  Dominant level of abstraction: still RTL  Desired level of abstraction: ESL: Electronic system level HLM: High-level modeling HW/SW co-design  But: The industry is moving very slowly!

3. Why is it difficult to go higher?  Because people hate to change!  Because cost of R&D has not been an issue! Which means that one can just throw resources at the problem.  This is going to change! The “hayride” seems to be over. Margins will be squeezed. Business processes will be re-examined with a magnifying glass. The industry will change kicking and screaming!

4. The Multi-Core Challenge  The days of annual 50% cost-performance gains seem to be over.  We no longer know how to translate transistor density gains to cost-performance gains.  The hardware industry is moving to multi- core, but the software industry does not know how to follow. Can the software problem be solved?  Who will be adversely affect? Processor industry? Hardware industry? IT industry? Western civilization? Humanity?

5. The Language Wars  Language adoption in computing has always been a very strange process; “who shall live and who shall die?” (Remember APL?)  Small players (Esterel, BlueSpec) are not likely to succeed; adoption risk is too large.  No major leader at the system level.  So far open source seems (SystemC) to dominate, but not for technical reasons.  Academia has been slow to develop interest.

6. Transactions: Fundamental Concept  Transactions: fundamental concept in databases – concurrent access to data. Requirements: ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) Solution: locking, serializability, etc. Rich theory and practice  Transactions: a fundamental concept in computer science – concurrent access to data. Transactional operating systems Transactional file systems Transactional memories

7. Diatribe on “TLM”  What are the “transactions” in “transaction-level modeling”? It is just a buzzword!  Architecture should be part of CS not EE! How to solve concurrent access to data in hardware? Use transactions! When architects start to really use transactions, then transaction-level modeling will become meaningful. Not much theory of Formal.

8. Where is Formal today?  Boolean equivalence: industrial acceptance  Sequential equivalence: acceptance near, little academic research  Property verification for HW: making a widening penetration, mostly applied to small blocks, no recent major research progress  Property verification for SW: industrial niche (MS SDV, protocols), no recent major research progress (exception: termination)

9. Challenges for Formal  Scale technology for design blocks with meaningful micro-architectural functionality. It’s time for SMT to deliver performance!  Make transactions a first-class concept. But read the literature first!  Push Formal to system level Concurrent software  Pay attention to digital-analog issues Hybrid systems

10. Food for Thought  Wayne Gretzky: “I skate to where the puck will be, not where it's been.”  Goal of research: Intercept the future – “Hit the puck to where Wayne Gretzky will be.'' The industry is moving to a higher level of abstraction. This is where research should aim!

11. Plea to Industry  Reality: Many academic papers suffer from weak experimentation!  Reason: Lack of realistic benchmarks. Claim: If industry finds a way to provide realistic benchmarks to academia, then both sides benefit!