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A rigorous method for test templates generation from object‐oriented specifications
Author(s) -
Periyasamy K.,
Alagar V. S.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
software testing, verification and reliability
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1099-1689
pISSN - 0960-0833
DOI - 10.1002/stvr.210
Subject(s) - template , computer science , formal specification , programming language , focus (optics) , test case , white box testing , object oriented programming , formal methods , extension (predicate logic) , specification language , test (biology) , software engineering , software , software development , software construction , physics , regression analysis , machine learning , optics , paleontology , biology
This paper describes a rigorous method that investigates the suitability of formal specifications written in Object‐Z specification language for testing object‐oriented software implementation in a black‐box fashion. The insight gained in the formalization of a model, the inherent abstractions, and formally specified intended behaviours and exceptions lead to the generation of test templates that are free from any implementation bias. The method described in this paper is an extension of the one proposed by Stocks and Carrington. In particular, the focus of the paper is on generating test templates for composite operations in an Object‐Z specification. The method is illustrated using the specification for an electronic mail system. The specification and the test templates generated for the electronic mail system show several interesting properties of the application that require considerable attention during testing. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.