Software reliability estimation through black box and white box testing at prototype level

Abstract

Software reliability refers to the probability of failure-free operation of a system. It is related to many aspects of software, including the testing process. Directly estimating software reliability by quantifying its related factors can be difficult. Testing is an effective sampling method to measure software reliability. Guided by the operational profile, software testing (usually black-box testing) can be used to obtain failure data, and an estimation model can be further used to analyze the data to estimate the present reliability and predict future reliability. White box testing is based on inter-component interactions which deal with probabilistic software behavior. It uses an internal perspective of the system to design test cases based on internal structure at requirements and design phases. This paper has been applied for evolution of effective reliability quantification analysis at prototype level of a financial application case study with both failure data test data of software Development Life cycle (SDLC) phases captured from defect consolidation table in the form orthogonal defect classification as well functional requirements at requirement and design phases captured through software architectural modeling paradigms.