A framework for statistical testing of software components

Shukla, Rakesh, Strooper, Paul and Carrington, David (2007) A framework for statistical testing of software components. International Journal of Software Engineering And Knowledge Engineering, 17 3: 379-405.


Author Shukla, Rakesh
Strooper, Paul
Carrington, David
Title A framework for statistical testing of software components
Journal name International Journal of Software Engineering And Knowledge Engineering  (ERA 2012 Listed)    (ERA 2010 Rank B)   Check publisher's open access policy
Publication date 2007-06
Sub-type Article
DOI 10.1142/S021819400700329X
Volume number 17
Issue number 3
ISSN 0218-1940
Start page 379
End page 405
Total pages 27
Editor Chang, S.K.
Place of publication Singapore
Publisher World Scientific Publ Co Pte Ltd
Collection year 2008
Language eng
Subject 280302 Software Engineering
C1
700102 Application tools and system utilities
Abstract Statistical testing involves the testing of software by selecting test cases from a probability distribution that is intended to represent the software's operational usage. In this paper, we describe and evaluate a framework for statistical testing of software components that incorporates test case execution and output evaluation. An operational profile and a test oracle are essential for the statistical testing of software components because they are used for test case generation and output evaluation respectively. An operational profile is a set of input events and their associated probabilities of occurence expected in actual operation. A test oracle is a mechanism that is used to check the results of test cases. We present four types of operational profiles and three types of test oracles, and empirically evaluate them using the framework by applying them to two software components. The results show that while simple operational profiles may be effective for some components, more sophisticated profiles are needed for others. For the components that we tested, the fault-detecting effectiveness of the test oracles was similar.
Keyword Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Computer Science, Software Engineering
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
software components
statistical testing
operational profile
test oracle
Reliability
Partition
Mutation
Q-Index Code C1
Q-Index Status Confirmed Code

 
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