Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

Design of test inputs and their sequences in multi-function system testing

  • Published:
Applied Intelligence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This discussion paper addresses combinatorial models in system testing from the perspective of system usage (utilization) and corresponding examination of system functions and their groups. Thus the following aspects of multi-function system testing are under study: analysis of system requirements and revelation of atomic system functions and their relationships, analysis of system function groups (clusters), design of the most important test inputs and sequences of the test inputs. The basic combinatorial problem is: composition of the best (the most important) test input(s) for each group of atomic system functions. Additional combinatorial problems are the following: (a) design of test input sequence for a trail (chain) of function clusters, (b) design of collection of test input sequences as covering of function cluster digraph, (c) structural fusion of unit test results. Numerical and real world examples illustrate the proposed approach.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

References

  1. Beizer B (1995) Black-Box testing: Techniques for Functional Testing of Software and Systems. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bogdanov K, Holombe M (2001) Statechart testing method for aircraft control systems. J Test Verifi Reliab 11(1):39–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Buede DM (1992) Software review. Overview of MCDA software market. J Multi-Crit Decision Anal 1(1):59–61

    Google Scholar 

  4. Burr K, Young W (1998) Combinatorial test techniques: Table-based automation, test generation, and test coverage. In: Proc Int Conf on Software Testing, Analysis, and Review (STAR). San Diego, CA, pp 26–28

  5. Cameron K (1990) An algorithmic note on the Galai-Milgram theorem. Networks 20:43–48

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  6. Chanrasekaran B, Josephson JR (2000) Function in dence representation. J Eng Compu 16(3/4):162–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Cheng KT, Jou JY (1990) Functional test generation for finite state machine. In: Proc IEEE Int Testing Conf, IEEE, New York, pp 162–168

    Google Scholar 

  8. Chittarq I, Rannon R (1999) Diagnosis of multiple faults with flow-based functional models: The functional diagnosis with efforts and flows approach. Reliab Eng Syst Saf 64(2):137–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Chow TS (1978) Testing design modeled by finite-state machines. IEEE Trans Softw Eng 4(3):178–186

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  10. Clarke EM, Grumberg O, Peled DA (2000) Model Checking. MIT Press, Ca mbridge, Mass

    Google Scholar 

  11. Cohen DM, Dalal SR, Parelius J, Patton GC (1996) The combinatorial design approach to automatic test generation. IEEE Softw pp 83–87

  12. Diestel R (1997) Graph theory. Springer-Verlag, New York

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  13. Edmonds J (1965) The Chinese postman’s problem, Bull the Oper Res Soc Amer 13(B-73):486–487 and 519

    Google Scholar 

  14. Garey MR, Johnson DS (1979) Computers and intractability. The Guide to the Theory of NP-completeness. Freeman, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  15. Goldschmidt O, Hochbaum DS, Hurkens C, Yu G (1996) Approximation algorithms for (kmbox-)clique covering problems. SIAM J Discr Math 9(3):492–509

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  16. Harary F (1969) Graph theory. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass

    Google Scholar 

  17. IEEE Standard 610 (1990) IEEE Standard Collection: Software Engineering. IEEE, 1994

  18. Jackson B (1981) tbl begintabulartoprule Long paths and cycles in oriented graphs. J Graph The 5:145–157

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  19. Jorgensen PC (2002) Software Testing. A Craftman’s Approach, 2ed. CRC, Boca Raton, FL

    Google Scholar 

  20. Kaner C, Falk J, Nguyen HQ (1999) Testing Computer Software, 2nd ed. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  21. Kaner C (2003) What is a good test case? Software Testing Analysis & Review Conference (STAR) East, Orlando, FL

  22. Karpovsky MG, Moskalev EA (1986) Covering of edges of graph by a minimal set of paths. Discr Math 58(2):214

    Google Scholar 

  23. Keeny RL, Raiffa H (1976) Decisions with multiple objectives: Preferences and value tradeoffs. Wiley, New York

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  24. Korhonen P, Wallenius J, Zionts S (1984) Solving the discrete multiple criteria problems using convex cones. Manag Sci 30(11):1336–1345

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  25. Lai K-W, Siewiorek DP (1983) Functional testing of digital systems. In: Proc 20th Design Automation Conf., IEEE, pp 207–213

  26. Last M, Kandel A (2003) Automated test reduction using an Info-Fuzzy Network. In: Khoshgoftaar TM (ed) Software Engineering with Computational Intelligence, Kluwer, pp 235–258

  27. Last M, Friedman M, Kandel A (2003) The data mining approach to automated software testing. In: Proc of the 9th ACM SIGKDD Int Conf on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD-2003), Washington, DC, USA, pp 388–395

  28. Levin MSh (1988) Typical Approach to Quality Evaluation in Machine-Building. VNIIKI, Moscow (in Russian)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Levin MSh (1998) Combinatorial Engineering of Decomposable Systems. Kluwer, Dordrecht

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  30. Levin MSh (2002) Towards combinatorial analysis, adaptation, and planning of human-computer systems. Appl Intell 16(3):235–247

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  31. Levin MSh, Last M (2004) Collection of test case sequences: Covering of function cluster digraph. In: Proc IASTED Conf on AI and Applications. Innsbruck, pp 806–810

  32. Levin MSh, Last M (2004) Multi-function system testing: Composition of test sets, In: Proc. The 8th IEEE Int Symp on High Assurance Syst. Engineering “HASE’04”, IEEE Computer Society Press, pp 99–108

  33. Levin MSh, Last M (2004) Test case sequences in system testing: Selection of test cases for a chain (sequence) of function clusters. In: Proc The 17th Int Conf IEA/AIE, Ottawa, LNCS 3029, Springer, pp 895–904

    Google Scholar 

  34. Leung KRPH, Wong W, Ng JK-Y (2003) Generating test cases from class vectors. J Syst Softw 66(1):35–46

    Google Scholar 

  35. Linial N (1978) Covering digraphs by paths. Discr Math 23(3):257–272

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  36. Lipaev VV (2003) A methodology of verification and testing of large software systems. Progr Comp Softw 29(6):298–309

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  37. Madrioli D, Morasca S, Morzenti A (1995) Generating test cases for real-time systems from logic specifications. ACM Trans. Comp Syst 13(4):365–398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Martello S, Toth P (1990) Knapsack problem: Algorithms and Computer Implementation. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  39. Ostrand TJ, Balcer MJ (1988) The category-partition method for specifying and generating functional tests. Comm ACM 31(6):676–686

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Paton R (2001) Software Testing. Sams, Indianapolis, IL

    Google Scholar 

  41. Peled D, Vardi MY, Yannakakis M (2002) Black box checking. J Aut, Lang Comb 7(2):225–246

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  42. Roy B (1990) The outranking Approach and Foundations of ELECTRE Methods. In: Bana e Costa CA (ed) Readings in Multi-Criteria Decision Aid. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. pp 155–183

    Google Scholar 

  43. Saaty TL (1988) The Analytic Hierarchy Process. MacGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  44. Schroeder PJ, Korel B (2000) Black-box test reduction using Input-output analysis. ACM SIGSOFT Softw Eng Notes 25(5):173–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Shenhar AJ (1998) From theory to practice: Toward a typology of project-management styles. IEEE Trans Eng Manag 45(1):33–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Steuer RL (1986) Multiple criteria optimization: Theory, computation, and Application. Wiley, New York

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  47. Stoica S (1999) Generating functional design verification tests. IEEE Design & Test 16(3):53-63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Tamres V (2002) Introducing testing software. Addison-Wesley, Mass

    Google Scholar 

  49. Turing A (1936) On computable numbers with an application to the Enscheidungsproblem. In: Proc of Lond Math Soc, vol XLII, pp 239–265 (with correction in ibid, vol XLIII, 1937, pp. 544–546)

  50. Turner CD, Robson DJ (1993) State-based testing and inheritance. Technical Report TR1/93, Univ of Durham, England

    Google Scholar 

  51. Volkmann L (1999) Longest path in semicomplete multipartite digraphs. Discr Math 199(1–3):279–284

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  52. Wilson RJ (1972) Introduction to graph theory. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  53. Ural H, Zhu K (1993) Optimal length test sequence generation using distinguishing sequences. IEEE Trans Netw 1(3):358–371

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Mark Last

    Present address: Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, 19 Bolshoj Karetny Lane, Moscow, 127994, Russia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information System Engineering, Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva, 84105, Israel

    Mark Sh. Levin & Mark Last

Authors
  1. Mark Sh. Levin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mark Last
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark Sh. Levin.

Additional information

Mark Sh. Levin received the M.S. degree in Radioengineering from Moscow Techn. Univ. for Communication and Informatics (1970), the M.S. degree in Mathematics from ‘Lomonosov’ Moscow State Univ. (1975), the Ph.D. degree in Systems Analysis and Combinatorial Optimization from Inst. for System Analysis of Russian Acad. of Sci. (1982). His research interests include systems engineering, decision making, combinatorial optimization, and applications. Currently Dr. Levin is with Inst. for Inform. Transmission Problems of Russian Acad. of Sci. (Moscow) as a Senior Research Scientist. He is a member of ACM, IEEE, SIAM, Int. Soc. on MCDM, Int. Soc. of Appl. Intel., and OR Society of Israel.

Mark Last received his Ph.D. degree in Industrial Engineering from Tel Aviv Univ. (2000). Dr. Last is a faculty member at Dept. of Information Systems Engineering of Ben-Gurion Univ. (Israel) and affiliated as a visiting faculty at National Inst. for Systems Test and Productivity (Univ. of South Florida, USA). His research interests include information systems, knowledge discovery and data mining, fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic, and software testing. He is a member of IEEE Computer Society and ACM.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Levin, M.S., Last, M. Design of test inputs and their sequences in multi-function system testing. Appl Intell 25, 107–126 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10489-006-8869-9

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10489-006-8869-9

Keywords