Abstract
Formal specification of software should include a concern with error tolerance and usability. We summarise a psychological explanation of human error, and show that system criteria such as visibility and predictability can be used to reduce the possibility of human error in system use. These criteria are classes of interactive systems properties that may be expressed in terms of an interaction model of a computer system. This model can be used as an initial specification of the system that can be further refined into a full specification of the system satisfying the same properties. We begin by considering these properties in the context of deterministic closed systems such as word processors. We end the paper by extending the discussion to dynamic systems where the actions that are required to fulfil the operator’s initial intentions change as a result of autonomous influences on the state of the system.
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© 1992 British Computer Society
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Harrison, M. (1992). Engineering Human-Error Tolerant Software. In: Nicholls, J.E. (eds) Z User Workshop, York 1991. Workshops in Computing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3203-5_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3203-5_9
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-19780-5
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