Some effects of fault recovery order on software reliability models

Abstract

Since traditional approaches to software reliability modeling allow the user to formulate predictions using data from one realization of the debugging process, it is necessary to understand the influence of the fault recovery order on predictive performance. We introduce an experimental methodology using a data structure called the debugging graph and use it to analyze the effects of various fault recovery orders on the predictive accuracy of four well-known software reliability algorithms. Further we note fault interactions and their potential effects on the predictive process. Based on our experiment, we conjecture that the accuracy of a reliability prediction is affected by the fault recovery order as well as by fault interactions.<>