ITR/SY: Reliability Theory of Software Designed using Components

Portland State University, Portland OR

Investigators

Abstract

Proposal 0112654 Reliability Theory of Software Designed Using Components Dick Hamlet, Portland State University Defining, developing, and reusing software components is today accepted as the best line of attack on the problem of expensive and unreliable software systems. In other engineering disciplines, component-based systems have been the key to rational design, in which engineers can predict the behavior of complex systems before they are built and tested. This research focuses on the quality of software components. A foundational theory is developed to allow the designer of a system, working from data sheets that describe proposed components, to estimate the reliability of the system that will result. Goals of this research are: -- To develop a quantitative, mathematical description of the way in which component reliability measurements can be made and later used for calculating system reliability. -- To experiment with the theory in simple, revealing cases, to expose problems in the theory and improve it by experimental feedback. -- To implement research-prototype support tools, particularly for the system designer, that make experimentation easier.