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On dependability of computing systems

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Abstract

With the rapid development and wide applications of computing systems on which more reliance has been put, a dependable system will be much more important than ever. This paper is first aimed at giving informal but precise definitions characterizing the various attributes of dependability of computing systems and then the importance of (and the relationships among) all the attributes are explained.

Dependability is first introduced as a global concept which subsumes the usual attributes of reliability, availability, maintainability, safety and security. The basic definitions given here are then commended and supplemented by detailed material and additional explanations in the subsequent sections.

The presentation has been structured as follows so as to attract the reader’s attention to the important attributions of dependability.

  • ⊙ Search for a few number of concise concepts enabling the dependability attributes to be expressed as clearly as possible.

  • ⊙ Use of terms which are identical or as close as possible to those commonly used nowadays.

This paper is also intended to provoke people’s interest in designing a dependable computing system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Shanghai University, 201800, Shanghai, P.R. China

    Xu Shiyi

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  1. Xu Shiyi
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Correspondence to Xu Shiyi.

Additional information

This work was supported by AM (Applied Material Co. Ltd.) Foundation of the United States and National Natural Science Foundation (NSF) of China under grant No. 69873030.

XU Shiyi was born in 1941. He graduated from the Department of Mathematics, Fudan University in 1964. He is currently a Professor at Department of Computer Science, Shanghai University. His research interests include fault-tolerant computing, VLSI testing and fault diagnosis, computer system architecture and logic design.

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Xu, S. On dependability of computing systems. J. Comput. Sci. & Technol. 14, 116–128 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02946517

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02946517

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