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Automating test-based inspection of design models

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Abstract

Software design is usually a highly creative and error-prone activity even if supported by patterns within a given domain. Therefore, inspection techniques are often needed to validate design models so that defects are not propagated to code and tests. However, traditional inspection techniques often focus on structural aspects of models, leaving behavior validation for testing that is performed later. Guided inspections combine both traditional inspection activities and testing to bring in the testing perspective earlier in the development process in order to more effectively uncover omission and nonconformity. This paper presents an automated solution, based on model-driven architecture concepts and technology, to the guided inspection technique focusing on Unified Modeling Language models. The automated technique, as observed from 3 case studies, can be reasonably effective to uncover defects of different types.

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Notes

  1. http://checkstyle.sourceforge.net/.

  2. http://findbugs.sourceforge.net/.

  3. http://sites.google.com/a/computacao.ufcg.edu.br/agi/.

  4. http://www.ines.org.br.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by CNPq Grants 484643/2011-8 and 560014/2010-4. Also, this work was partially supported by the National Institute of Science and Technology for Software Engineering, Footnote 4 funded by CNPq/Brasil, Grant 573964/2008-4. First author was also supported by CNPq.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Information Technology Centre (NTI), UFPB, João Pessoa, PB, Brazil

    Anne Caroline O. Rocha

  2. Software Practices Laboratory (SPLab), DSC/UFCG, Campina Grande, PB, Brazil

    Franklin Ramalho & Patrícia D. L. Machado

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  1. Anne Caroline O. Rocha
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  2. Franklin Ramalho
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  3. Patrícia D. L. Machado
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Correspondence to Patrícia D. L. Machado.

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Rocha, A.C.O., Ramalho, F. & Machado, P.D.L. Automating test-based inspection of design models. Software Qual J 23, 3–28 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11219-013-9219-x

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