Can Learning Formal Specification Be Fun? —Experience and Perspective

Writing formal specifications is a useful skill for students to develop and to grow a positive mindset towards it. Unfortunately this is hampered by the stereotyping of formal method as dry and boring. In this short paper we discuss our experience in using of a computer game called FormalZ as an attempt to introduce some fun in teaching the skill. Two setups are discussed: as an embedded part of a course, and as a loose tutorial, after which we will conclude with the lessons learned.