Jean-Raymond Abrial is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 computer scientist and inventor of the Z

Z notation

The Z notation , named after Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, is a formal specification language used for describing and modelling computing systems. It is targeted at the clear specification of computer programs and computer-based systems in general.-History:...

 and B

B-Method

The B method is method of software development based on B, a tool-supported formal method based around an abstract machine notation, used in the development of computer software. It was originally developed by Jean-Raymond Abrial in France and the UK. B is related to the Z notation and supports...

 formal methods

Formal methods

In computer science and software engineering, formal methods are a particular kind of mathematically-based techniques for the specification, development and verification of software and hardware systems...

.

J.-R. Abrial is the father of the Z notation

Z notation

The Z notation , named after Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, is a formal specification language used for describing and modelling computing systems. It is targeted at the clear specification of computer programs and computer-based systems in general.-History:...

 (typically used for formal specification

Formal specification

In computer science, a formal specification is a mathematical description of software or hardware that may be used to develop an implementation. It describes what the system should do, not how the system should do it...

 of software), during his time at the Programming Research Group

Programming Research Group

The Programming Research Group is part of the Oxford University Computing Laboratory . It was founded by Christopher Strachey in 1965 and after his death, C.A.R. Hoare, FRS took over the leadership in 1977...

 within the Oxford University Computing Laboratory

Oxford University Computing Laboratory

The Department of Computer Science, until 2011 named the Computing Laboratory , is a department of Oxford University in England...

, and later the B-Method

B-Method

The B method is method of software development based on B, a tool-supported formal method based around an abstract machine notation, used in the development of computer software. It was originally developed by Jean-Raymond Abrial in France and the UK. B is related to the Z notation and supports...

 (normally used for software development), two leading formal methods

Formal methods

In computer science and software engineering, formal methods are a particular kind of mathematically-based techniques for the specification, development and verification of software and hardware systems...

 for software engineering

Software engineering

Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...

. He is the author of The B-Book: Assigning Programs to Meanings (ISBN 0-521-49619-5). For much of his career he has been an independent consultant, as much at home working with industry as academia. Latterly, he became a Professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 at ETH Zurich

ETH Zurich

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich or ETH Zürich is an engineering, science, technology, mathematics and management university in the City of Zurich, Switzerland....

 in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

External links

• Review of The B-Book by Jonathan Bowen
  Jonathan Bowen
  Jonathan P. Bowen FBCS FRSA is a British computer scientist. He is Chairman of Museophile Limited, an Emeritus Professor at London South Bank University where he has headed the Centre for Applied Formal Methods, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Westminster...
  
  
• Managing the Construction of Large Computerized Systems — article
• Have we learned from the Wasa disaster (video) — talk by Jean-Raymond Abrial