The many stages of current software development processes make it error-prone.
Novel application generation technologies promise to simplify software development and make its creation much less error-prone.
A truly precise functional specification is difficult to achieve due to the high degree of ambiguity in creative team-based human development activities.
If a really precise functional specification can be written, it can be automatically transformed into an error-free working program.
Software is robust if it can function to specification under any usage conditions.
Software is trustworthy if it meets its users' expectations under any reasonable conditions of use.
Robustness in software can be achieved by a three-stage Taguchi process: system design, parameter design, and tolerance design.
System design is intended to meet the functional requirements of the final end users.
Parameter design is intended to make the product less sensitive to exogenous ("noise") factors in its usage environment.
Tolerance design involves tightening tolerance in product or process parameters to reduce variability in performance.