Facing up to Faults
Brian Randell · 2000
As individuals, organisations and indeed the world at large have become more dependent on computer-based systems, so there has been an ever-growing amount of research into means for improving the dependability of these systems. In particular there has been much work on trying to gain increased understanding of the many and varied types of faults that need to be prevented or tolerated in order to reduce the probability and severity of system failures. In this talk I discuss the assumptions that are often made by computing system designers regarding faults, survey a number of continuing issues related to fault tolerance, and identify some of the latest challenges facing researchers in this arena. In The Beginning It is a great honour and privilege to be asked to give this, the second, Turing Lecture. Let me start by mentioning that, to my great regret, I never met Alan Turing, whose tragic death occurred just a few years before I became involved with computing. His character and achievements have however always fascinated me- at one time I spent much effort trying to investigate his wartime work on cryptanalysis and code-breaking devices. As a result I managed to uncover and help to gain belated