An Educational Logic Tool for the Formal Verification, Design by Contract, and Algorithmic Debugging of Imperative Programs

While logic plays an important role in several areas of Computer Science (CS) and Software Engineering (SE), most of the educational technology developed for teaching logic ignores their application in a more large portion of the CS and SE education domain. In this paper we describe an innovative methodology based on a prototype logic teaching tool on semantic tableaux to prepare and train the students for using logic as a formal proof technique in other topics of CS and SE, such as the formal verification of algorithms and the declarative debugging of imperative programs, which are at the basis of a good development of software. Along the academic course 2009/2010 we have evaluated the part of the tool concerning the analysis of algorithms and software engineering. The tool evaluation is carried by means of tests, some of them managed from a Virtual Campus, with open access to all the students, and another one managed in a computer laboratory with a controlled group. We show this educational experience about the benefits that the students get from the tool in the current teaching of the design of software.