Brian Plüss

Tool support for the Test Template Framework

This paper describes tool support that has been implemented for the Test Template Framework (TTF). The TTF is a model‐based testing (MBT) method that is especially well suited for unit testing from Z specifications. Although the TTF is a sound MBT method and it has been widely referenced since its first publication, attention in recent years has decayed. In fact, some have argued that generating abstract test cases following the TTF is a manual task requiring its users to perform complex predicate manipulations. This paper shows that these observations are dubious by describing Fastest, a tool that implements solutions for all these issues and, according to many experiments, produces abstract test cases for more than 80% of the satisfiable test specifications. Furthermore, it is claimed that Fastest fulfils the needs of the Z user community regarding MBT tools, which is supported with a range of case studies. Copyright

Applying the Test Template Framework to Aerospace Software

We have applied Fastest, an implementation of the Test Template Framework, to five real case studies of aerospace software. This involved the formalization in the Z notation of nontrivial parts of each system. One of these models, for instance, formalizes a significant portion of the ECSS-E-70-41A aerospace standard. The models were then fed into Fastest, which automatically generated detailed functional abstract test cases. Since these test cases are independent of any implementation, they can be used to test any of them. Furthermore, we were able to semi-automatically translate them into English so they can be used by domain experts performing independent validation and verification activities.

Engaging Citizens with Televised Election Debates through Online Interactive Replays

In this paper we tackle the crisis of political trust and public engagement with politics by investigating new methods and tools to watch and take part in televised political debates. The paper presents relevant research at the intersection of citizenship, technologies and government/democracy, and describes the motivation, requirements and design of Democratic Replay, an online interactive video replay platform that offers a persistent, customisable digital space for: (a) members of the public to express their views as they watch online videos of political events; and (b) enabling for a richer collective understanding of what goes on in these complex media events.