Abstract
The paper reviews active automata learning with a particular focus on sources of redundancy. In particular, it gives an intuitive account of TTT, an algorithm based on three tree structures which concisely capture all the required information. This guarantees minimal memory consumption and it drastically reduces the length of membership queries, in particular in application scenarios like monitoring-based learning, where long counter examples arise. The essential steps and the impact of TTT are illustrated via experimentation with LearnLib, a free, open source Java library for active automata learning.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aarts, F., Heidarian, F., Kuppens, H., Olsen, P., Vaandrager, F.: Automata learning through counterexample guided abstraction refinement. In: Giannakopoulou, D., Méry, D. (eds.) FM 2012. LNCS, vol. 7436, pp. 10–27. Springer, Heidelberg (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32759-9_4
Aarts, F., Jonsson, B., Uijen, J.: Generating models of infinite-state communication protocols using regular inference with abstraction. In: Petrenko, A., Simão, A., Maldonado, J.C. (eds.) ICTSS 2010. LNCS, vol. 6435, pp. 188–204. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Aarts, F., Schmaltz, J., Vaandrager, F.: Inference and abstraction of the biometric passport. In: Margaria, T., Steffen, B. (eds.) ISoLA 2010, Part I. LNCS, vol. 6415, pp. 673–686. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Angluin, D.: Learning Regular Sets from Queries and Counterexamples. Inf. Comput. 75(2), 87–106 (1987)
Bauer, O., Neubauer, J., Steffen, B., Howar, F.: Reusing System States by Active Learning Algorithms. In: Moschitti, A., Scandariato, R. (eds.) Eternal Systems. CCSE, vol. 255, pp. 61–78. Springer (2012)
Bertolino, A., Calabrò, A., Merten, M., Steffen, B.: Never-Stop Learning: Continuous Validation of Learned Models for Evolving Systems through Monitoring. ERCIM News 2012(88) (2012)
Bossert, G., Hiet, G., Henin, T.: Modelling to Simulate Botnet Command and Control Protocols for the Evaluation of Network Intrusion Detection Systems. In: 2011 Conference on Network and Information Systems Security (SAR-SSI), pp. 1–8 (May 2011)
Hagerer, A., Hungar, H.: Model generation by moderated regular extrapolation. In: Kutsche, R.-D., Weber, H. (eds.) FASE 2002. LNCS, vol. 2306, pp. 80–95. Springer, Heidelberg (2002)
Hagerer, A., Margaria, T., Niese, O., Steffen, B., Brune, G., Ide, H.D.: Efficient regression testing of CTI-systems: Testing a complex call-center solution. Annual review of communication, Int.Engineering Consortium (IEC) 55, 1033–1040 (2001)
Hopcroft, J.E.: An n logn Algorithm for Minimizing States in a Finite Automaton. Tech. rep., Stanford, CA, USA (1971)
Hopcroft, J.E., Motwani, R., Ullman, J.D.: Introduction to automata theory, languages, and computation - (2. ed.). Addison-Wesley series in Computer Science. Addison-Wesley-Longman (2001)
Howar, F.: Active Learning of Interface Programs. Ph.D. thesis, TU Dortmund University (2012), http://dx.doi.org/2003/29486
Howar, F., Bauer, O., Merten, M., Steffen, B., Margaria, T.: The Teachers’ Crowd: The Impact of Distributed Oracles on Active Automata Learning. In: Hähnle, R., Knoop, J., Margaria, T., Schreiner, D., Steffen, B. (eds.) ISoLA 2011 Workshops 2011. CCIS, vol. 336, pp. 232–247. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)
Howar, F., Merten, M., Steffen, B., Margaria, T.: Practical Aspects of Active Automata Learning. In: Formal Methods for Industrial Critical Systems. Wiley-VCH (2012)
Howar, F., Steffen, B., Jonsson, B., Cassel, S.: Inferring canonical register automata. In: Kuncak, V., Rybalchenko, A. (eds.) VMCAI 2012. LNCS, vol. 7148, pp. 251–266. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)
Howar, F., Steffen, B., Merten, M.: From ZULU to RERS. In: Margaria, T., Steffen, B. (eds.) ISoLA 2010, Part I. LNCS, vol. 6415, pp. 687–704. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)
Isberner, M., Howar, F., Steffen, B.: Learning Register Automata: From Languages to Program Structures. Machine Learning 96(1-2), 65–98 (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10994-013-5419-7
Isberner, M., Howar, F., Steffen, B.: The TTT algorithm: A redundancy-free approach to active automata learning. In: Bonakdarpour, B., Smolka, S.A. (eds.) RV 2014. LNCS, vol. 8734, pp. 307–322. Springer, Heidelberg (2014)
Isberner, M., Steffen, B.: An Abstract Framework for Counterexample Analysis in Active Automata Learning. In: Clark, A., Kanazawa, M., Yoshinaka, R. (eds.) Proc. ICGI 2014. JMLR W&CP (to appear, 2014)
Jonsson, B.: Learning of Automata Models Extended with Data. In: Bernardo, M., Issarny, V. (eds.) SFM 2011. LNCS, vol. 6659, pp. 327–349. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)
Kearns, M.J., Vazirani, U.V.: An Introduction to Computational Learning Theory. MIT Press, Cambridge (1994)
Margaria, T., Raffelt, H., Steffen, B.: Knowledge-based Relevance Filtering for Efficient System-level Test-based Model Generation. Innovations in Systems and Software Engineering 1(2), 147–156 (2005)
Merten, M., Isberner, M., Howar, F., Steffen, B., Margaria, T.: Automated learning setups in automata learning. In: Margaria, T., Steffen, B. (eds.) ISoLA 2012, Part I. LNCS, vol. 7609, pp. 591–607. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)
Merten, M., Steffen, B., Howar, F., Margaria, T.: Next generation learnLib. In: Abdulla, P.A., Leino, K.R.M. (eds.) TACAS 2011. LNCS, vol. 6605, pp. 220–223. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)
Nerode, A.: Linear Automaton Transformations. Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society 9(4), 541–544 (1958)
Peled, D., Vardi, M.Y., Yannakakis, M.: Black Box Checking. In: Wu, J., Chanson, S.T., Gao, Q. (eds.) Proc. FORTE 1999, pp. 225–240. Kluwer Academic (1999)
Raffelt, H., Merten, M., Steffen, B., Margaria, T.: Dynamic testing via automata learning. Int. J. Softw. Tools Technol. Transf. 11(4), 307–324 (2009)
Raffelt, H., Steffen, B., Berg, T., Margaria, T.: LearnLib: a framework for extrapolating behavioral models. Int. J. Softw. Tools Technol. Transf. 11(5), 393–407 (2009)
Rivest, R.L., Schapire, R.E.: Inference of Finite Futomata Using Homing Sequences. Inf. Comput. 103(2), 299–347 (1993)
Shahbaz, M., Shashidhar, K.C., Eschbach, R.: Iterative refinement of specification for component based embedded systems. In: ISSTA 2011, pp. 276–286 (2011)
Steffen, B., Howar, F., Merten, M.: Introduction to active automata learning from a practical perspective. In: Bernardo, M., Issarny, V. (eds.) SFM 2011. LNCS, vol. 6659, pp. 256–296. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Howar, F., Isberner, M., Steffen, B. (2014). Tutorial: Automata Learning in Practice. In: Margaria, T., Steffen, B. (eds) Leveraging Applications of Formal Methods, Verification and Validation. Technologies for Mastering Change. ISoLA 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8802. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45234-9_34
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45234-9_34
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-45233-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-45234-9
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)