Reliable software and communication. I. An overview

The authors discuss the general state of affairs in a variety of related areas ranging from software safety, reliability, and testing, protocol specification and verification, network congestion-control and reliability, to communication security and complexity. They intend to identify useful theory and tools, point out connections between different areas, and to a large extent, raise a number of questions whose answers may still lie far beyond the limits of current knowledge. Some of these areas are still in a very primitive state and call for new ideas, bold approaches, radical thinking, and perhaps extraordinary efforts. The paper was originally the overview section of a Bellcore technical report. The remainder of the report consisted of the following surveys in selected areas: A. Quality, reliability, and safety by Sid Dalal, Bob Horgan and Jon Kettenring (1994). B. Congestion control and network reliability by Brian Coan and Dan Heyman (1994). C. Protocol specification and validation by Linda Ness. D. Security and correctness of computation by Stuart Haber