Ultra-reliable software
by John from John D. Cook on (#21WAB)
From a NASA page advocating formal methods:
We are very good at building complex software systems that work 95% of the time. But we do not know how to build complex software systems that are ultra-reliably safe (i.e. P_f < 10^-7/hour).
Emphasis added.
Developing medium-reliability and high-reliability software are almost entirely different professions. Using typical software development procedures on systems that must be ultra-reliable would invite disaster. But using extremely cautious development methods on systems that can afford to fail relatively often would be an economic disaster.
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