Software
Reliability
By
Alfred Lalrinfela
CONTENT
S
What is software 1
reliability?
Software and hardware 2
reliability
Failures and faults 3
Environment 4
What is software reliability?
As per IEEE standard: "Software reliability is defined as the ability of a
system or a component to for perform it's required functions under stated
conditions for a specified period of time. ".
According To Bev Littlewood: "Software reliability means operational
reliability. Who cares how many bugs are in the program? We should be
concerned with their effect on its operations".
The most acceptable definitions of software reliability is: "It is the
probability of a failure free operation of a program for a specified time in a
specified environment"MUSA87
Software reliability and Hardware reliability
Software Reliability:
The process of software (design)is trival and can be performed to very high
standard of quality.Since introduction and removal of designed faults
occurs during software development, software reliability may be expected
to very during this period.
Hardware Reliability:
The design reliability concept has not been applied to hardware to that
extent. It is possible to keep hardware design failures low because
hardware was generally less complex logically than software.
Failure And Fault
Failure
Failures can occur due to various reasons, including the presence of coding
defects, but they can also be caused by insufficient or unclear operational
requirements.
Fault
A fault (also called a defect or bug) refers to an error in the code, design, or
requirements of a software system. It represents a flaw introduced during
the development process, which, if not detected and corrected, can lead to
incorrect system behavior.
Environment
The environment refers to the set of conditions and configurations where
software is developed, tested, and deployed. It is categorized into:
1.Development Environment: This includes tools like editors, compilers,
and version control systems used by developers to write and test code.
2.Testing Environment: A controlled setup where the software undergoes
rigorous testing to check for defects and performance issues.
3.Staging Environment: A near-replica of the production environment,
used for final testing to ensure the software behaves as expected.
4.Production Environment: The actual operational environment where the
software is deployed for end-users.
