ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explains the development of dependable, embedded software. It addresses the technical aspects of building a product that can be certified to a standard, such as International Electrotechnical Commission 61508 or International Organization for Standards 26262. The book describes the analyses that are carried out for any such development — a hazard and risk analysis, the safety case analysis. It discusses the problems associated with incorporating external components into a safety-critical device. The book explores the need for an architect and a designer to balance the availability, reliability, performance, usefulness, security, and safety of a system. The development of safety-critical systems has only begun to take data, particularly configuration data, seriously. There are many development methodologies ranging from pure waterfall through modified waterfall, design-to-schedule, theory-W, joint application development, rapid application development, timebox development, rapid prototyping, agile development with SCRUM to eXtreme programming.
