Title :
Exception Handling and Software Fault Tolerance
Author :
Cristian, Flaviu
Author_Institution :
Computing Laboratory, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
fDate :
6/1/1982 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
Some basic concepts underlying the issue of fault-tolerant software design are investigated. Relying on these concepts, a unified point of view on programmed exception handling and default exception handling based on automatic backward recovery is constructed. The cause–effect relationship between software design faults and failure occurrences is explored and a class of faults for which default exception handling can provide effective fault tolerance is characterized. It is also shown that there exists a second class of design faults which cannot be tolerated by using default exception handling. The role that software verification methods can play in avoiding the production of such faults is discussed.
Keywords :
Exception; exception handling; failure; fault; fault avoidance; fault tolerance; hierarchical structure; module; procedure; recovery; Algorithm design and analysis; Application software; Computer languages; Fault tolerance; Hardware; Production; Robustness; Runtime; Software design; Software tools; Exception; exception handling; failure; fault; fault avoidance; fault tolerance; hierarchical structure; module; procedure; recovery;
Journal_Title :
Computers, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TC.1982.1676035