The impact of language design on the production of reliable software

Abstract

The language in which programs are written can have a substantial effect on their reliability. This paper discusses the design of programming languages to enhance reliability. It presents several general design principles, and then applies them to particular language constructs. Since we can not logically prove the validity of such design principles, empirical evidence is needed to support or discredit them. Gannon has performed a major experiment to measure the effect of nine specific language design decisions in one context. Analysis of the frequency and persistence of errors shows that several decisions had a significant impact on reliability.