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"Finding bugs without running or even looking at code" by Jay Parlar

Strange Loop Conference · talk · Watch on YouTube

Logic & formal methodsTesting, debugging & developer toolsSoftware architecture & design

What it is

Jay Parlar's Strange Loop talk shows how model checkers such as Alloy can find complex bugs in a system's design without running or reading any code. He walks through modeling architectures and checking every possible sequence of operations, including a real security bug and a UI feature-interaction bug.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN commenters point to it as the best practical introduction to Alloy and to lightweight formal modeling.

  • 4 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2019, last 2023

What HN commenters said

  1. “There was a fantastic talk at strangeloop this year on Alloy”

    Talk using Alloy to find a serious security bug and UI feature-interaction bug

    hwayne, 2019-10 · Strong recommendation · in “Alloy is a language for describing structures and a tool for exploring them”

  2. “I was exposed to alloy by this wonderful video”

    Introduced commenter to Alloy; applicable to core business software

    ParetoOptimal, 2023-04 · Strong recommendation · in “Modeling Git Internals in Alloy, Part 2: Commits and Tags”

  3. “There's a great talk from StrangeLoop[0] where a presenter uses Alloy modelling in exactly the same manner”

    Shows iterative Alloy modelling: generate examples, spot errors, add rules

    kilotaras, 2020-04 · Recommendation · in “Show HN: A basketball hoop to maximize shots that go in [video]”

  4. “There is a talk that gives a good overview on Alloy and how useful using something like this is”

    Good overview of Alloy and its usefulness

    _andrei_, 2023-10 · Recommendation · in “Modeling CRDTs in Alloy – the importance of idempotence”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: alloy, model checking, formal methods, software design, bug finding

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