Certifying high assurance software

Abstract

Software certification processes have become so intertwined with development processes that true product certification, which should demonstrate that the software will behave appropriately, is almost never employed. This deficiency calls for a new generation of certification methodologies. The paper presents a methodology for measuring whether software will do what we want. If the software will, it deserves to be labeled as being of high quality (or high assurance). The methodology we provide is applicable to all types of software, covering the spectrum from safety critical control software to games.