Software Engineering | Maintenance

Maintenance

Software maintenance is done to correct faults, improve performance, or adapt a software system to a new environment. Software must be maintained when:

The reality the software models changes,
New functionality is added,
It is easier to change software than hardware,
Software must be updated to run on improved hardware or with improved software.

There are several types of software maintenance. They are:

Maintenance Type	Description
Corrective	Fixes a fault in the software without changing or adding to the software's functionality.
Adaptive	Modifies software to preserve functionality in a changed environment.
Perfective	Improves software performance, maintainability, etc., and can extend the functionality of the application.
Preventive	Changes are made to the system in order to prevent further faults and to improve the structure and maintainability of the system.