A Method for the Prediction of Software Reliability

A. D’Ambrogio, G. Iazeolla, and R. Mirandola (Italy)

Keywords

software reliability, reliability prediction, automatic modelproduction

Abstract

This paper deals with the reliability assessment of component-based software to predict the software product reliability at the early stage. The proposed approach trans forms a specification written in a semi-formal language into a stochastic model to be used for reliability evaluation. The paper assumes an UML-based system specification and introduces a method to map the specification onto a failure model. The method enables software designers with no specific knowledge of reliability theory to predict at design time the reliability of the final product, thus introducing lifecycle re liability prediction into their development best practices. The method is illustrated by use of an application case study that deals with the development of distributed soft ware. A software architecture that allows the method to be easily integrated into UML-based software development environ ments is also introduced. The architecture is based on the use of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) to represent both the UML system specification and the failure model.

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