Nonparametric bootstrapping interval estimations for software release planning with reliability objective

We discuss a bootstrap method for estimating software reliability and cost-reliability-optimal software release time via a discretized software reliability growth model, which conserves the properties of the continuous analog of the discretized model. And then, we conduct interval estimations of them by three types of bootstrap confidence interval estimation methods, such as basic, standard normal, and percentile bootstrap confidence intervals. In our numerical examples, we confirm that our bootstrap approach yields simulation-based probability distributions of model parameters, software reliability assessment measures, and cost-reliability-optimal software release time without deriving these probability distributions analytically.