Editing Z notation (section)

==History==
In 1974, [[Jean-Raymond Abrial]] published "Data Semantics".<ref>{{Citation | author-link = Jean-Raymond Abrial | first = Jean-Raymond | last = Abrial | contribution = Data Semantics | editor1-last = Klimbie | editor1-first = J. W. | editor2-last = Koffeman | editor2-first = K. L. | title = Proceedings of the [[IFIP]] Working Conference on Data Base Management | publisher = [[North-Holland Publishing Company|North-Holland]] | pages = 1–59 | year=1974 }}</ref> He used a notation that would later be taught in the [[University of Grenoble]] until the end of the 1980s. While at EDF ([[Électricité de France]]), working with [[Bertrand Meyer]], Abrial also worked on developing Z.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bbm%3A978-3-642-15187-3%2F1.pdf | title=Greetings to Bertrand on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday | first=Tony | last=Hoare | authorlink=Tony Hoare | date=2010 | work=The Future of Software Engineering | page=183 | isbn=978-3-642-15187-3 | publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] }}</ref> The Z notation is used in the 1980 book ''Méthodes de programmation''.<ref>{{Citation | author1-link = Bertrand Meyer | first1 = Bertrand | last1 = Meyer | first2 = Claude | last2 = Baudoin | title = Méthodes de programmation | publisher = Eyrolles | year = 1980 | language = fr}}</ref>

Z was originally proposed by Abrial in 1977 with the help of Steve Schuman and [[Bertrand Meyer]].<ref>{{Citation | first1 = Jean-Raymond | last1 = Abrial | first2 = Stephen A | last2 = Schuman | first3 = Bertrand | last3 = Meyer | contribution = A Specification Language | title = On the Construction of Programs | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | editor1-first = A. M. | editor1-last = Macnaghten | editor2-first = R. M. | editor2-last = McKeag | year = 1980 | isbn = 0-521-23090-X}} (describes early version of the language).</ref> It was developed further at the [[Programming Research Group]] at [[Oxford University]], where Abrial worked in the early 1980s, having arrived at Oxford in September 1979.

Abrial has said that Z is so named "Because it is the ultimate language!"<ref>{{cite web|
 url=http://liacs.leidenuniv.nl/~hoogeboomhj/praatjes/formalmethods/formalmethods.pdf |
 title=Formal Methods in Software Engineering | first=Hendrik Jan | last=Hoogeboom | publisher=[[University of Leiden]] | location=The Netherland | access-date=14 April 2017 }}</ref> although the name "[[Ernst Zermelo|Zermelo]]" is also associated with the Z notation through its use of [[Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory]].

In 1992, the [[Z User Group]] (ZUG) was established to oversee activities concerning the Z notation, especially meetings and conferences.<ref name="zug22">{{cite news| first=Jonathan | last=Bowen | authorlink=Jonathan Bowen | title=The Z User Group: Thirty Years After | work=[[FACS FACTS]] | publisher=[[BCS-FACS]] | issue=2022–2 | pages=50–56 | date=July 2022 | url=https://www.bcs.org/media/9401/facs-jul22.pdf | accessdate=3 August 2022 }}</ref>