Applying object-oriented construction to fault tolerant systems

This paper investigates the application of object-oriented construction to fault tolerant systems. The resulting system provides traditional fault tolerance within objects, but also a new form of fault tolerance between objects: object diversity. Object diversity extends current practice by integrating diversity in two directions: data and algorithm. This resulting form will allow increased diversity to be incorporated within fault tolerant systems. Further benefits are derived from the use of the inheritance hierarchy as a natural source of redundant components. As class libraries (both general and application specific) grow, more and more “free” redundant components will become available, yielding increasing savings on production costs