Is your application system process facing problem? With the help of System-level analysis you can save your application from failures at different levels. It analyzes how the components are interacting at multiple layers & technologies. Keep your system efficient and secure.

1. What is System-Level Software Analysis?
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And, how it kills critical defects to keep your enterprise applications purring like a sports car.

2. The Exponential Cost of Defects in the SDLC
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1x
10x
100x
?
Development
Systems & Integration Testing
Cost of Fixing
Cost to Business
Post-Production
Exponential Cost Increase
Fixing Defects in the SDLC
We’ve all seen charts like this.
Many of us have experienced it.
We all know that the later you catch the problem in the software development process, the more it costs to fix.
So, how can it be prevented?

3. The Devil is in the System-Level Defects
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Many have tried to prevent the high costs of post-production defects with unit-level code analyzers.
While, in reality, the worst kind of system failures (the kind that keeps developers up at night) are caused by…
“system-level” defects…
…and, they’re very… hard… to find…
Missed release windows!
Offline applications!
Post-production madness

4. So, what does ‘system-level’ mean?
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Analyzing software at the ‘system-level’ means, examining how its components interact
with each other through multiple layers, and across multiple technologies.
THE APPLICATION SYSTEM
Application Components
Code Units
Technology Layers
Component Interaction

5. Detecting System-Level Defects Early and Often can…
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Increase software availability
Enhance software performance
Raise user productivity
Speed up time-to-market
Improve user satisfaction
Maximize revenue generation

6. More than Code Analysis, Much More
Different levels of analysis have varying scopes, and focus on very different types of problems…
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import java.applet.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class SecondApplet extends Applet {
static final String message = "Hello World";
private Font font;
// One-time initialization for the applet
public void init() {
font = new Font("Helvetica", Font.BOLD, 48);
}
// Draw the applet whenever necessary. Do some fancy graphics.
public void paint(Graphics g) {
// The pink oval
g.setColor(Color.pink);
g.fillOval(10, 10, 330, 100);
// The red outline. java doesn't support wide lines, so we
Unit Analysis
Component Analysis
System
Analysis
Scope
•Code quality at developer level
•Entire technology layer
•Inter-application invocation
•Single technology
•Entire application
•Interaction between application components
•Architectural cohesion
Focus
•Code syntax
•Code style & layout
•Code hygiene
•Code documentation
•Common standards
•Component quality and structure
•Security vulnerabilities
•Best coding practices
•End-to-end transaction integrity
•Risk propagation simulation
•Entire application security
•Inter-layer resiliency
•Data access control

7. 6
RELIABILITY
•No error handling along the call chain
•Typecast mismatching along the call chain
•Mis-configured frameworks (e.g., update trigger in Hibernate)
EFFICIENCY
•Expensive loops, with indirect calls involved
•Incorrect use of indices
•Multiple performance violations along the call chain
SECURITY
•Input validation, SQL injection, Cross-site scripting
•Failure to use vetted libraries or frameworks
•Secure architecture design compliance
MAINTAINABILITY
•Excessive horizontal layers
•Code duplication – business logic vs. exact code comparison
•Strict hierarchy of calling between architectural layers
Like a finely tuned sports car…
…all the parts of an application must work together in harmony.
Software issues that pose serious threats to stability, performance and security are only detectable once the components are fully integrated.

8. System-Level Software Analysis Makes a Difference
Because of its holistic approach, system-level software analysis can save your applications from more catastrophic failures than any other type of software quality analysis. And, it requires a unique type of technology.
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Unit Analysis
Component Analysis
System Analysis
Impact
Issues Detected
Critical Failures Prevented
Issues Detected
Critical Failures Prevented
Issues Detected
Critical Failures Prevented
Supplier Landscape
Many, both commercial and open source
Very few, both commercial & open source, often specialized in a single language
Only CAST can provide system analysis for complex systems
import java.applet.*;
import java.awt.*;
public class SecondApplet extends Applet {
static final String message = "Hello World";
private Font font;
// One-time initialization for the applet
public void init() {
font = new Font("Helvetica", Font.BOLD, 48);
}
// Draw the applet whenever necessary. Do some fancy graphics.
public void paint(Graphics g) {
// The pink oval
g.setColor(Color.pink);
g.fillOval(10, 10, 330, 100);
// The red outline. java doesn't support wide lines, so we

9. 90% of Critical Failures are Caused by System-Level Defects
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Functional
Structural
Unit-Level
System-Level
•Inter-layer communication
•Transactions
•Data Access
•Data manipulation
•Coding basic based on best practices
•Within one program unit
70%
30%
92%
8%
APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT & MAINTENANCE DEFECTS
STRUCTURAL FLAWS
PRODUCTION OUTAGE ATTRIBUTED
90%
System-Level
10%
Unit-Level
System-Level Quality Analysis

10. According to the experts
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“[CAST’s] holistic system approach, looking at the architecture, transactions, control, and data flow across multiple technologies, may be very beneficial, with numerous engineering studies showing that bad software engineering practices in the ways components are interrelated and interact…account for only 10% of total defects, but can lead to 90% of production issues.”

11. http://www.castsoftware.com/system-level-software-analysis
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