Abstract:

The fast increase in the complexity of technical artifacts, in particular of software systems, exposes human society to increased risks. The immediate consequences of software failures range from small nuisances to important loss of value and even to fatalities. One of the main reasons for the more and more frequent software failures is the insufficient qualification of software professionals with respect to Computational Logic and to Automated Reasoning, which makes them avoid the use of formal methods in the software production and verification process. Computational Logic is an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of Computer Science and Mathematics which studies the use of Mathematical Logic in designing, testing, and verifying computer algorithms and software systems. Automated Reasoning is a topic in Computational Logic which studies methods and algorithms for reasoning in a mechanized way, and thus is also a subtopic of Artificial Intelligence.

The purpose of our ongoing international Erasmus+ European Project: “ARC – Automated Reasoning in the Class”, running from 2019 to 2022, is to improve the education of students in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, and related fields by creating innovative and advanced learning material that uses Automated Reasoning and by training a large number of academic staff for using it in a modern way. Consequently, this will increase the knowledge and skills of graduates with respect to Computational Logic, and thus will have a positive impact on the safety and reliability of software. Our aim is to reduce the gap between the learning offer from universities and the requests on the labor market with respect to the use of formal methods in practical software production.

The activities in the project plan include: the production of the ARC book: “Computational Logic, a Practical Approach”, creation of interactive learning tools based on Automated Reasoning, five international training events for the academic staff, training of more than 5000 students in more than 20 courses over 6 semesters, as well as an international summer school for students and an international workshop for academics, in order to disseminate the final project results.

The project partners are prestigious universities from Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany, and France, which bring high level complementary expertize in the fields of Computational Logic and Automated Reasoning.

Keywords:

Automated reasoning, problem based learning, computer science, software engineers.