Reliability prediction and estimation of PROLOG programs

Abstract

This paper presents an approach to reliability prediction and estimation of PROLOG programs, and introduces 2 complexity measures for PROLOG programs. The structural complexity measure refers to the program's static characteristics: size and number of clauses; clause arguments (number and types); and clause types (facts or rules). The operational complexity measure refers to the program's dynamic characteristics: execution frequency of program components; user behavior; and backtracking and recursion. Values of the two measures are used to: (1) predict PROLOG program reliability before testing and in the early testing stages; and (2) estimate the reliability as a function of time, in order to determine whether the reliability objective is achieved. The feature-oriented reliability determination approach leads to improvements in the accuracy of software reliability predictions and estimations. >