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The use of mathematics in software quality assurance

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Abstract

The use of mathematics for documenting, inspecting, and testing software is explained and illustrated. Three measures of software quality are described and discussed. Then three distinct complementary approaches to software quality assurance are presented. A case study, the testing and inspection of a safety-critical system, is discussed in detail.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Middle Road Software, Inc., Ottawa, K1V 1V5, Canada

    David Lorge Parnas

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  1. David Lorge Parnas
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Correspondence to David Lorge Parnas.

Additional information

David Lorge Parnas has been studying industrial software design since 1969. Many of his papers have proven to have lasting value, some won awards long after they were published. Parnas received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He has honorary doctorates from the ETH Zurich, Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium), University of Italian Switzerland (Lugano), and the Technische Universität Wien (Austria). He is licensed as a Professional Engineer in Ontario. Parnas is the author of more than 280 papers and reports. A collection of older papers was published in: Hoffman D M, Weiss D M (eds.), Software Fundamentals: Collected Papers by David L. Parnas. Addison-Wesley, 2001 (ISBN 0-201-70369-6).

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Parnas, D.L. The use of mathematics in software quality assurance. Front. Comput. Sci. 6, 3–16 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11704-012-2904-2

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