Robust

Referring to the health, strength and durability of something. In computing terms, being robust is reliability or being available seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. Robustness is an important characterists of the internet because network design is a key factor in the availability of data.

Examples:

• Robust e-mail allows a company to convert most of their communications from paper to electronic.
• Robust Web sites allow customers to purchase items worldwide at any time of day and without fear of errors.
• Robust computers perform without stress or downtime, improving productivity.
• People prefer robust, always-on networking systems such as ISDN versus dialup, even if they are not much faster.
• OpenBSD is considered more robust than Linux is considered more robust than Windows.

A robust file sharing program may not provide all the desired data all the time but will deliver reliably, matching queries and completing downloads.

See also: Programming | Security | Data Haven