The role of concept, context, and component for dependable software development

Abstract

Software that impact our lives are embedded in the environment in which we act and hence our security and safety are dependent on its flawless functioning. An assessment of dependability of such embedded software systems includes an assessment of the process to develop the system and the system's observable properties. Dependability criteria depend on the domain in which the software system is to serve. Thus, it should be formulated from domain concepts. Concepts in the domain should be analyzed to construct components. A component of the system may function as expected in one context of application and may fail to function as expected in another context. The system is dependable if the services resulting from every interaction between system components satisfy the dependability criteria in every context of operation. This paper explores the roles of concept analysis and context in determining dependability criteria at the domain level, the role of domain models in an automatic derivation of components and component-based systems, and the integrated role of context and components in the construction of context-aware and service-oriented systems. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.