Big Specification: Specification, Proof, and Testing at Scale

Assurance of an implementation of any layer of the software stack requires an accurate specification of it -- and those specifications can be incredibly massive. Working with such large specifications creates extremely difficult problems, ranging from the purely bureaucratic (how can editors update such specifications in such a way that they have confidence that all needed updates happen in sync), to engineering (tools such as model checkers and proof assistants can start crashing in the face of massive specs), to the scientific (how can we know that a large spec has the properties we hope it does). Despite being difficulties, these difficulties are fundamentally good to have: the field has matured to the point where understanding how to write, maintain, and use large specifications is an important immediate problem, rather than a problem we hope to have in the future. This workshop gathers experts from across the spectrum of verification and assurance to share our experiences developing, using, and maintaining the kinds of complex specifications needed to engineer practical computer systems.