Fundamentals of Dependable Computing for Software Engineers presents the essential elements of computer system dependability. The book describes a comprehensive dependability-engineering process and explains the roles of software and software engineers in computer system dependability.

Readers will learn:

• Why dependability matters
• What it means for a system to be dependable
• How to build a dependable software system
• How to assess whether a software system is adequately dependable

The author focuses on the actions needed to reduce the rate of failure to an acceptable level, covering material essential for engineers developing systems with extreme consequences of failure, such as safety-critical systems, security-critical systems, and critical infrastructure systems. The text explores the systems engineering aspects of dependability and provides a framework for engineers to reason and make decisions about software and its dependability. It also offers a comprehensive approach to achieve software dependability and includes a bibliography of the most relevant literature.

Emphasizing the software engineering elements of dependability, this book helps software and computer engineers in fields requiring ultra-high levels of dependability, such as avionics, medical devices, automotive electronics, weapon systems, and advanced information systems, construct software systems that are dependable and within budget and time constraints.

About the Author

John Knight is a professor of computer science at the University of Virginia. Prior to joining the University of Virginia, he was with NASA's Langley Research Center. Dr. Knight has been a recipient of the Harlan D. Mills award from the IEEE Computer Society and the Distinguished Service award from ACM's Special Interest Group on Software Engineering (SIGSOFT). He is an editorial board member of the Empirical Software Engineering Journal and was editor of the IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering from January 2002 to December 2005.

Reviews

The book is an important addition to one's bookshelf. ... it is insightful, close to faultless, and a wonderful reference. Read it from front to back and cite it in your proposals and professional and scholarly papers. ... This book can and should be taught as part of an undergraduate or graduate software engineering program. I wish it had been available when I was setting up a graduate software engineering program ... .
-Larry Bernstein, Computing Reviews, June 2012

This book takes full advantage of the extensive work that has been undertaken over many years on the creation of a rich set of system dependability concepts. John Knight makes excellent use of these concepts in producing a very well-argued and comprehensive account, aimed squarely at software engineers, of the variety of dependability issues they are likely to find in real systems and of the strategies that they should use to address these issues. Appropriately qualified students who study this book thoroughly and computer professionals seeking a greater understanding of the various dependability-related problems that they have encountered already in their careers should gain much from this book. I therefore take great pleasure in enthusiastically recommending it to both classes of reader.
-From the Foreword by Brian Randell, Newcastle University, UK

Book Information
ISBN 9781439862551
Author John Knight
Format Paperback
Page Count 440
Imprint Chapman & Hall/CRC
Publisher Taylor & Francis Inc
Weight(grams) 612g