Software Reliability Modelling

This book summarizes the recent advances in software reliability modelling. Almost all the existing models are classified and the most interesting models are described in detail.Because of the application of software in many industrial, military and commercial systems, software reliability has become an important research area. Although there are many models and results appeared in different journals and conference proceedings, there is a lack of systematic publications on this subject. The aim of this book is to provide an overview of this area and provide software reliability researchers and analysts with a systematic study of the existing results. This book can also be used as a reference book for other software engineers and reliability theoreticians interested in this area.

Software reliability is one of the most important characteristics of software product quality. Its measurement and management technologies during the software product life cycle are essential to produce and maintain quality/reliable software systems. Part 1 of this book introduces several aspects of software reliability modeling and its applications. Hazard rate and nonhomogeneous Poisson process (NHPP) models are investigated particularly for quantitative software reliability assessment. Further, imperfect debugging and software availability models are discussed with reference to incorporating practical factors of dynamic software behavior. Three software management problems are presented as application technologies of software reliability models: the optimal software release problem, the statistical testing-progress control, and the optimal testing-effort allocation problem. Part 2 of the book describes several recent developments in software reliability modeling and their applications as quantitative techniques for software quality/reliability measurement and assessment. The discussion includes a quality engineering analysis of human factors affecting software reliability during the design review phase, which is the upper stream of software development, as well as software reliability growth models based on stochastic differential equations and discrete calculus during the testing phase, which is the lower stream. The final part of the book provides an illustration of quality-oriented software management analysis by applying the multivariate analysis method and the existing software reliability growth models to actual process monitoring data.

Deals constructively with recognized software problems. Focuses on the unreliability of computer programs and offers state-of-the-art solutions. Covers—software development, software testing, structured programming, composite design, language design, proofs of program correctness, and mathematical reliability models. Written in an informal style for anyone whose work is affected by the unreliability of software. Examples illustrate key ideas, over 180 references.

This volume contains five tutorial papers based on the lectures given at the intensive course on Software Reliability Modelling and Identification in Como (Italy) from September 2 to 4, 1987. The purpose of this volume is to present some important models used to forecast the reliability growth during the software testing process, and discuss the practical applicability of models in the management of software techniques for model identification from data (parameter estimation, complexity selection, validation, etc.). The basic reliability concepts are also introduced for those readers who are not familiar with the reliability ideas. Besides the basic models, a new family of models is introduced in the book. This family is flexible enough to describe a variety of different reliability trends. Particular attention is given to the problem of the provision of tools to assist the user in selecting an appropriate model in a particular situation.

The book begins with an introduction to software reliability, models and techniques. The book is an informative book covering the strategies needed to assess software failure behaviour and its quality, as well as the application of optimization tools for major managerial decisions related to the software development process. It features a broad range of topics including software reliability assessment and apportionment, optimal allocation and selection decisions and upgradations problems. It moves through a variety of problems related to the evolving field of optimization of software reliability engineering, including software release time, resource allocating, budget planning and warranty models, which are each explored in depth in dedicated chapters. This book provides a comprehensive insight into present-day practices in software reliability engineering, making it relevant to students, researchers, academics and practising consultants and engineers.

Providing a general introduction to software reliability engineering, this book presents detailed analytical models, state-of-the-art techniques, methodologies, and tools used to assess the reliability of software systems. It also explores new directions of research in the field of software reliability engineering, including fault tolerant software and a new software reliability model that includes environmental factors.

Computer software reliability has never been so important. Computers are used in areas as diverse as air traffic control, nuclear reactors, real-time military, industrial process control, security system control, biometric scan-systems, automotive, mechanical and safety control, and hospital patient monitoring systems. Many of these applications require critical functionality as software applications increase in size and complexity. This book is an introduction to software reliability engineering and a survey of the state-of-the-art techniques, methodologies and tools used to assess the reliability of software and combined software-hardware systems. Current research results are reported and future directions are signposted. This text will interest: graduate students as a course textbook introducing reliability engineering software; reliability engineers as a broad, up-to-date survey of the field; and researchers and lecturers in universities and research institutions as a one-volume reference.