Abstract
Model-based testing involves formal models for test generation. This paper suggests regular grammars for event-based modeling. This model, represented in BNF, will then be systematically modified by well-defined mutation operators in order to generate fault models, called mutants. Specific algorithms apply to both the model of the system under consideration and the mutants to generate test cases. While existing methods focus on single events the approach introduced in this paper suggests considering event sequences of length k≥1, that is, k-sequences. The approach also enables to cope with a tough problem encountered in mutation-oriented testing: the elimination of mutants that are equivalent to the original model, and mutants that model the same faults multiple times. These mutants lead to unproductive test suites that cause wasting of resources. The approach proposed devises strategies to exclude the mentioned mutants in that they will not be generated at all.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adamopoulos, K., Harman, M., Hierons, R.: How to Overcome the Equivalent Mutant Problem and Achieve Tailored Selective Mutation Using Co-evolution. In: Deb, K., Tari, Z. (eds.) GECCO 2004. LNCS, vol. 3103, pp. 1338–1349. Springer, Heidelberg (2004)
Aichernig, B.K.: Mutation Testing in the Refinement Calculus. Formal Aspects of Computing Journal 15(2-3), 280–295 (2003)
Ammann, P.E., Black, P.E., Majurski, W.: Using Model Checking to Generate Tests from Specifications. In: Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods (ICFEM 1998), pp. 46–54. IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC (1998)
Beizer, B.: Software Testing Techniques. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York (1990)
Belli, F.: Finite-State Testing and Analysis of Graphical User Interfaces. In: Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering (ISSRE 2001), pp. 34–43. IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC (2001)
Belli, F., Beyazıt, M., Güler, N.: Event-Oriented, Model-Based GUI Testing and Reliability Assessment—Approach and Case Study. Advances in Computers 85, 277–326 (2012)
Belli, F., Beyazıt, M., Memon, A.: Testing is an Event-Centric Activity. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Software Security and Reliability (SERE-C 2012), pp. 198–206. IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC (2012)
Belli, F., Budnik, C.J., Wong, W.E.: Basic operations for generating behavioral mutants. In: Proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on Mutation Analysis (MUTATION 2006), pp. 9–18. IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC (2006)
Budd, T.A., Gopal, A.S.: Program Testing by Specification Mutation. Computer Languages 10(1), 63–73 (1985)
Grün, B.J.M., Schuler, D., Zeller, A.: The Impact of Equivalent Mutants. In: International Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation Workshops (ICSTW 2009), pp. 192–199. IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC (2009)
Hollmann, A.: Model-Based Mutation Testing for Test Generation and Adequacy Analysis. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Paderborn, Paderborn (2011)
Hopcroft, J.E., Motwani, R., Ullman, J.D.: Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages and Computation, 3rd edn. Addison-Wesley, Boston (2006)
Klint, P., Lämmel, R., Verhoef, C.: Toward an engineering discipline for grammarware. ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology 14(3), 331–380 (2005)
Offutt, A.J., Ammann, P., Liu, L.: Mutation Testing Implements Grammar-Based Testing. In: Proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on Mutation Analysis (MUTATION 2006), pp. 12–21. IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC (2006)
Utting, M., Legeard, B.: Practical Model-Based Testing: A Tools Approach. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., San Francisco (2006)
Zhu, H., Hall, P.A., May, J.H.: Software Unit Test Coverage and Adequacy. ACM Computing Surveys 29(4), 366–427 (1997)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Belli, F., Beyazıt, M. (2013). Using Regular Grammars for Event-Based Testing. In: Konstantinidis, S. (eds) Implementation and Application of Automata. CIAA 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7982. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39274-0_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39274-0_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-39273-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-39274-0
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)