Model checking

Model checking is an automated method for determining whether a finite-state model satisfies a formally stated property. It can produce a counterexample trace when the property fails.

Kripke structure: A labeled transition system whose states carry propositions, used to represent computations for temporal-logic verification. Model checkers commonly encode system states and transitions as Kripke structures.
Finite-state machine: A computational model with finitely many states and transitions between them. Many model-checking problems reduce system behavior to a finite-state machine.
Theorem proving: The derivation of mathematical conclusions from axioms and inference rules. Unlike automated state exploration, theorem proving can rely on human-guided reasoning over unbounded structures.
Hardware verification: The use of formal and empirical methods to establish that hardware behaves according to its design. Model checking is widely used to verify finite-state hardware control logic.
Amir Pnueli: An Israeli computer scientist who developed temporal logic for reasoning about concurrent programs. His work supplied a central specification language for temporal model checking.
Temporal logic: A family of formal languages for expressing how propositions hold over time. Temporal logic states the time-dependent properties that model checking evaluates.
Transition system: A mathematical model consisting of states and a relation describing possible steps between them. It supplies the behavior model that a model checker explores.
Testing (software): The execution of software under selected conditions to detect failures. Testing samples executions, while model checking systematically analyzes the modeled behavior space.
Software verification: The process of establishing that software satisfies specified correctness requirements. Model checking is one formal method within the broader practice of software verification.
Edmund M. Clarke: An American computer scientist whose work helped establish model checking as a verification method. Clarke co-developed early model-checking algorithms and helped bring the method into computer science.

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