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In computer programming and software engineering, software brittleness is the increased difficulty in fixing older software that may appear reliable, but instead, fails, when presented with unusual data or data that is altered in a seemingly minor way. The phrase is derived from analogies to brittleness in metalworking. [1]
When software is new, it is very malleable; it can be formed to be whatever is wanted by the implementers. But as the software in a given project grows larger and larger, and develops a larger base of users with long experience with the software, it becomes less and less malleable. Like a metal that has been work-hardened, the software becomes a legacy system, brittle and unable to be easily maintained without fracturing the entire system.[ citation needed ]
Brittleness in software can be caused by algorithms that do not work well for the full range of input data. Following, are some examples:
Very often, an old codebase is simply abandoned in favor of a brand-new one (which is intended to be free of many of the burdens of the legacy system; a.k.a. a rewrite) created from scratch, but this can be an expensive and time-consuming process.
Some examples and reasons behind software brittleness:
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