Determining the reliability of prolog programs

Abstract In this paper an approach to reliability prediction and estimation of Prolog programs is proposed. Two complexity measures describing Prolog programs are introduced. Values of the two measures are used, subsequently, to predict the reliability of Prolog programs before testing and in the early testing stages, and further, to estimate the reliability as a function of time, in order to determine whether the reliability objective is achieved. The proposed reliability determination approach is based on previous work (Azem et al., 1993), extending the prediction approach used therein through modification of the complexity measures and providing an estimation approach. It leads to improvements in the quality of predictions and estimations with respect to software reliability characteristics. The proposed approach is implemented in a reliability assessment environment, which also includes several well‐known software reliability models for comparison purposes.