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Generating online test oracles from temporal logic specifications

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Abstract

This paper is concerned with the problem of checking, by means of testing, that a software component satisfies a specification of temporal safety properties. Checking that an actual observed behavior conforms to the specification is performed by a test oracle, which can be either a human tester or a software module. We present a technique for automatically generating test oracles from specifications of temporal safety properties in a metric temporal logic. The logic can express quantitative timing properties, and can also express properties of data values by means of a quantification construct. The generated oracle works online in the sense that checking is performed simultaneously with observation. The technique has been implemented and used in case studies at Volvo Technical Development Corporation .

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Systems, Uppsala University, Sweden

    John Håkansson  & Bengt Jonsson

  2. Volvo Technical Development, Gothenburgh, Sweden

    Ola Lundqvist

Authors
  1. John Håkansson
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  2. Bengt Jonsson
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  3. Ola Lundqvist
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Correspondence to John Håkansson , Bengt Jonsson or Ola Lundqvist .

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Håkansson , J., Jonsson , B. & Lundqvist , O. Generating online test oracles from temporal logic specifications. STTT 4, 456–471 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10009-003-0107-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10009-003-0107-8

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