A Contribution to Techniques for Building Dependable Software Systems

Dependability is an essential property of critical systems and it also contributes to the quality of non-critical systems. There already exists an agreement what this term means, but we are still in the process of searching for an answer how to create dependable software systems in a cost-effective way. For different contexts, the how question may have different correct answers. In this paper, we present how an object-capability programming language P, which we have developed, can positively influence the following attributes of dependability: safety, confidentiality, correctness, and robustness. This is demonstrated using P language to build a simple operating system.