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The modern world is a place where software and devices are part of our everyday lives. Software is every­where — insti­tu­tions, offices, factories, our homes, cities and virtual space. Advancement of technology and development of Internet of Things (IoT) is the main force behind the approach of doing things shifting from the tradi­tional way to the modern digitalized way. Today’s software has advanced in function­ality, is more reliable and secure, users, on the other hand, demand for software that is advanced and reliable to help them achieve their daily activ­ities, whether at work or home. Even with the current state of technology, there is software that does not meet user expec­ta­tions or does not offer the required security level, leaving room for security breaches. This article will look at some of the factors that affect security and relia­bility of software and factors that contribute to successful and reliable software.

Software relia­bility refers to the proba­bility of software not failing or causing incon­ve­nience for the user; it is closely related to function­ality. Reliable software is unlikely to fail on a regular basis or prevent the user from executing an operation.

Below are different attributes of reliable software

Function­ality

Software function­ality refers to the overall perfor­mance of the software. User satis­faction is largely related to the function­ality of the software; a software that is fast, stable, offers adequate security and access control, can be said to have excellent function­ality. Function­ality can be measured by how users rate the software in regards to their experience with the software.

Usability

Software Usability refers to the ease of software use. The user interface design highly affects the usability of software. A good interface is the one that provides the user with a well-defined navigation, well-organized compo­nents, is easy to use and minimizes the number of clicks to complete the task.

Efficiency

Efficiency refers to the software function­ality based on functional require­ments or speci­fi­ca­tions, gener­ating the expected and accurate results without failure.

Maintain­ability

Software mainte­nance aims at making a software perform better and become more secure. Mainte­nance addresses software perfor­mance issues, bugs and security issues.

Security

The core security requirement of modern software is to secure the user data from unautho­rized access and also maintain the user privacy. To overcome security challenges, software is built consid­ering security as one of the main objectives.

Factors impacting to relia­bility and security of software

Design Archi­tecture

Software design archi­tecture refers to a set of principles which defines an appli­cation. It dictates an abstract framework for the software system regarding the pattern of struc­tural organi­zation. The success of a software begins at the design phase of software development when the function­ality, security protocols, access control factors are designed. Software development has signif­i­cantly evolved leading to more stable and reliable design patterns, which means more advanced design archi­tec­tures have been invented to power the modern appli­ca­tions. Design patterns and design archi­tecture affect 3 crucial aspects of a software reliability.

Appli­cation Speed

The speed of executing tasks highly depends on the software design. Modern software is designed to be light­weight and swift, built with a small “memory footprint” to enhance the perfor­mance of the software even on devices that have a low processing power. Today’s software aids processing of time-sensitive tasks such as serving thousands of clients for the shortest period possible or getting a patient’s medical details on time. Software users, whether using web software, mobile apps or desktop apps, want a software that does not take too long to execute commands and tasks.

Software Perfor­mance and Stability

Most of the modern software are built with the objective of supporting multiple concurrent users. This calls for well-thought design archi­tecture that is capable of handling concurrent users without failing or causing incon­ve­nience. Some design archi­tec­tures designed in the earlier days were not oriented to support concurrent users, and this resulted in perfor­mance issues. This eventually led to the development of design patterns that are oriented towards devel­oping high-perfor­mance software, which supports multiple concurrent users. The stability of software, even when used by many users at the same time, results in more reliable perfor­mance of software that does not fail due to traffic or access by many users.

Software Security

The security of a software system starts at the design phase of the software and ends with the end user. Software design archi­tecture signif­i­cantly impacts the software security. Software security is supposed to be at the core of the modern software. End users are increas­ingly demanding for more secure software systems; this is because the data being processed in today’s software systems contain sensitive user data, the privacy of which is critical. An effective software would not be successful unless it is secure, thus security and relia­bility of software are both insep­a­rable and crucial.

User Interface (UI) and User Experience

Modern software is designed to automate complex tasks, but users are in constant look of software that both does these complex tasks and has a user-friendly interface. The user interface deter­mines the relia­bility and usability of software in a great measure. UI design patterns have been invented to present the user with a consistent experience across devices and software as well. Design philoso­phies like material design by Google provide designers with design principles that help them create apps that have a consistent experience with mobile, web and desktops appli­ca­tions. Software made in the earlier days lacked the consistent look and experience, hence users had to learn to use the same software when the working environment or the device changed. Design principles aim at enhancing the development of user-friendly software that also minimizes the time the user spends to complete a task.

Security and relia­bility of software in the present-day world are core factors considered in the digital world. Effec­tiveness of software is coupled with security to ensure that the privacy of user data is prior­i­tized. Software used in sensitive areas like banking, health and government needs to be reliable and secure to prevent unautho­rized access and provide software efficiency. As the technology advances, security issues are better addressed together with relia­bility to efficiently automate our daily activities.