2025/06/13 by Arshad Beg, Beg, Arshad, Diarmuid O’Donoghue +3 · 2 citations
Computer Science · #D.2.1 #D.2.10 #D.2.4 #F.4.1 #F.4.3 #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Software Engineering (cs.SE) #Software System Performance and Reliability
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2506.11874
openalex publication_date 2025/06/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This paper presents a focused literature survey on the use of large language models (LLM) to assist in writing formal specifications for software. A summary of thirty-five key papers is presented, including examples for specifying programs written in Dafny, C and Java. This paper arose from the project VERIFAI - Traceability and verification of natural language requirements that addresses the challenges in writing formal specifications from requirements that are expressed in natural language. Our methodology employed multiple academic databases to identify relevant research. The AI-assisted tool Elicit facilitated the initial paper selection, which were manually screened for final selection. The survey provides valuable insights and future directions for utilising LLMs while formalising software requirements.