Date of Award
8-2013
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Advisor(s)
James W. Fawcett
Keywords
Debugging, Design by Contract, Mutation Testing, Requirements Discovery, Software Testing, Software Visualization
Subject Categories
Computer Sciences
Abstract
We introduce a methodology and research tools for visual exploratory software analysis. VERDICTS combines exploratory testing, tracing, visualization, dynamic discovery and injection of requirements specifications into a live quick-feedback cycle, without recompilation or restart of the system under test. This supports discovery and verification of software dynamic behavior, software comprehension, testing, and locating the defect origin. At its core, VERDICTS allows dynamic evolution and testing of hypotheses about requirements and behavior, by using contracts as automated component verifiers.
We introduce Semantic Mutation Testing as an approach to evaluate concordance of automated verifiers and the functional specifications they represent with respect to existing implementation. Mutation testing has promise, but also has many known issues. In our tests, both black-box and white-box variants of our Semantic Mutation Testing approach performed better than traditional mutation testing as a measure of quality of automated verifiers.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Bolazar, Sefik Kanat, "VERDICTS: Visual Exploratory Requirements Discovery and Injection for Comprehension and Testing of Software" (2013). Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - Dissertations. 335.
https://surface.syr.edu/eecs_etd/335
