J. Anthony Hall

FREng Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK and from arou ...

is a leading British

software engineer Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining software applications. It involves applying engineering principles and computer programming expertise to develop ...

specializing in the use of

formal methods In computer science, formal methods are mathematics, mathematically rigorous techniques for the formal specification, specification, development, Program analysis, analysis, and formal verification, verification of software and computer hardware, ...

, especially the

Z notation The Z notation 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 In 1974, Jean-Raymond Abria ...

. Anthony Hall was educated at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

with a BA in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

theoretical chemistry Theoretical chemistry is the branch of chemistry which develops theoretical generalizations that are part of the theoretical arsenal of modern chemistry: for example, the concepts of chemical bonding, chemical reaction, valence, the surface ...

. His subsequent posts have included: * ICI Research Fellow, Department of Theoretical Chemistry,

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

(1971–1973) * Principal Scientific Officer,

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

Research Laboratory (1973–1980) * Senior Consultant, Systems Programming Limited (1980–1984) * Principal Consultant, Systems Designers (1984–1986) * Visiting Professor,

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

(1994) * Principal Consultant, Praxis Critical Systems (1986–2004) In particular, Hall has worked on software development using formal methods for the UK

National Air Traffic Services NATS Holdings, formally National Air Traffic Services and commonly referred to as NATS, provides en-route air traffic control services to flights within the UK flight information regions and the Shanwick Oceanic Control Area. It also provide ...

(NATS). He has been an invited speaker at conferences concerned with formal methods,

requirements engineering Requirements engineering (RE) is the process of defining, documenting, and maintaining requirements in the engineering design process. It is a common role in systems engineering and software engineering. The first use of the term ''requiremen ...

and software engineering. Since 2004, Hall has been an independent

consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

. He has also been a visiting professor at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

. Hall was the founding chair of

ForTIA Formal Methods Europe (FME) is an organization whose aim is to encourage the research and application of formal methods for the improvement of software and hardware in computer-based systems. The association's members are drawn from academia and in ...

, the Formal Techniques Industry Association.

Selected publications

* Anthony Hall, Seven Myths of Formal Methods, ''

IEEE Software ''IEEE Software'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed magazine and scientific journal published by the IEEE Computer Society covering all aspects of software engineering, processes, and practices. Its mission is to be the best source of reliable, useful ...

'', September 1990, pp. 11–19. * Anthony Hall and Roderick Chapman, Correctness by Construction: Developing a Commercial Secure System, ''IEEE Software'', January/February 2002, pp. 18–25.

References

Career history

External links

Anthony Hall website
* Living people British computer programmers British computer scientists Formal methods people Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellows of the British Computer Society Alumni of the University of Oxford Employees of the British Museum Academics of the University of Sheffield British software engineers Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-compu-bio-stub