Software Reliability Techniques for Real-World Applications

5Roadmap and Practical Guidelines

We have covered a lot of competing suggestions and it is easy to get lost in the details. This chapter provides a summary and roadmap for using this book as well as giving some overall guidance for keeping the big picture in mind.

5.1 Summary and Roadmap

The following is a short summary of the material covered earlier in this book and a roadmap for how to use it in situations that frequently occur in projects. We start with Chapter 2 and understanding software defects. To efficiently and effectively handle defects, we need to understand them. This understanding includes knowing where they enter the system, their effects on the system, how to detect them, and what causes them. As a brief summary:

1. Where they enter the system: Defects affecting software can enter the system anywhere that there are activities and products that affect the software. For example, fixing a defect may introduce one or more additional defects.
2. Effects of defects: Some software defects are very subtle and hard to find, even with a rigorous test program. For example, the behaviors of some defects are changed by our efforts to find them. As a result, it is almost never cost-effective to rely solely on software testing to produce quality software. This consideration is also one of the reasons that it is best to prevent defects from occurring and if that is not possible, to find and correct them as early in the project as possible.
3. Detection of defects: As stated in