Mohd Adham Isa

Test case prioritization approaches in regression testing: A systematic literature review

Abstract Context Software quality can be assured by going through software testing process. However, software testing phase is an expensive process as it consumes a longer time. By scheduling test cases execution order through a prioritization approach, software testing efficiency can be improved especially during regression testing. Objective It is a notable step to be taken in constructing important software testing environment so that a systems commercial value can increase. The main idea of this review is to examine and classify the current test case prioritization approaches based on the articulated research questions. Method Set of search keywords with appropriate repositories were utilized to extract most important studies that fulfill all the criteria defined and classified under journal, conference paper, symposiums and workshops categories. 69 primary studies were nominated from the review strategy. Results There were 40 journal articles, 21 conference papers, three workshop articles, and five symposium articles collected from the primary studies. As for the result, it can be said that TCP approaches are still broadly open for improvements. Each approach in TCP has specified potential values, advantages, and limitation. Additionally, we found that variations in the starting point of TCP process among the approaches provide a different timeline and benefit to project manager to choose which approaches suite with the project schedule and available resources. Conclusion Test case prioritization has already been considerably discussed in the software testing domain. However, it is commonly learned that there are quite a number of existing prioritization techniques that can still be improved especially in data used and execution process for each approach.

Model-driven estimation approach for system reliability using integrated tasks and resources

The increasing complexity of software systems in embedded systems or industrial business domains has led to the importance of reliability analysis for current systems. Reliability analysis has become a crucial part of the system development life cycle, and a new approach is needed to enable an early analysis for reliability estimation, especially for the system under design. However, the existing approach neglects the correlation between system resource and system task for estimating system reliability. This subsequently restricts accuracy of the estimation as well as causing difficulties in identifying critical resources and tasks during the design phase. This paper proposes a model-driven system reliability estimation using a scenario-based approach to estimate system reliability and identify its critical resources and system tasks during the design phase. This model is based on the PerFAM model, which can specifically view timing failures through a system scenario. The proposed approach is validated by the application of a sensitivity analysis into one case study. The case study demonstrates an essential relationship between system reliability, as well as both resources and tasks, which ultimately becomes the integral part for a system reliability estimation assessment.

A Survey of Design Model for Quality Analysis: From a Performance and Reliability Perspective

The use of a model for the analysis of the software quality attributes during the design phase has been gaining more attention in recent years. These models, which are peripheral in system design, are the center of quality analysis. The system design is the central focus in representing the structure and behavior of the system. Therefore, the goal of the software architecture performance and reliability analysis is to discover possible quality problems that may violate the quality requirements, which have been stated in the design. The use of an intermediate model to correlate the performance and reliability specification from the UML model and which is then transformed into an analysis model could facilitate the analysis process. This paper provides a survey of the existing intermediate metamodels from a performance and reliability perspective, through the evaluation and discussion on the similarities and differences focusing on the aspects of general concepts, modelling and analysis. The purpose of the discussion is to offer guidelines on which intermediate metamodel is appropriate for the use of quality analysis at design time as well as outline the possible space for improvement by making classifications and comparisons studies.

Comparative Evaluation of Performance Assessment and Modeling Method for Software Architecture

Conducting performance assessment during the early phases of system development enhances early design decisions of system design. The generated performance models from system design will help in identifying the potential performance problems in the system design based on the result of the performance assessment. In recent years, several methods for performance assessment and modeling have been proposed. This paper presents the comparative evaluation of performance assessment and modeling methods to discover the strengths and weaknesses of the existing methods based on a set of criteria which includes process and modeling elements that was developed with the purpose to represent a specific process to assess the performance attributes with the help of modeling concepts. The four selected methods were evaluated based on these criterions and the results will hopefully guidance for developers to propose better methods for performance assessment and modeling in the future.

Technique for early reliability prediction of software components using behaviour models

Behaviour models are the most commonly used input for predicting the reliability of a software system at the early design stage. A component behaviour model reveals the structure and behaviour of the component during the execution of system-level functionalities. There are various challenges related to component reliability prediction at the early design stage based on behaviour models. For example, most of the current reliability techniques do not provide fine-grained sequential behaviour models of individual components and fail to consider the loop entry and exit points in the reliability computation. Moreover, some of the current techniques do not tackle the problem of operational data unavailability and the lack of analysis results that can be valuable for software architects at the early design stage. This paper proposes a reliability prediction technique that, pragmatically, synthesizes system behaviour in the form of a state machine, given a set of scenarios and corresponding constraints as input. The state machine is utilized as a base for generating the component-relevant operational data. The state machine is also used as a source for identifying the nodes and edges of a component probabilistic dependency graph (CPDG). Based on the CPDG, a stack-based algorithm is used to compute the reliability. The proposed technique is evaluated by a comparison with existing techniques and the application of sensitivity analysis to a robotic wheelchair system as a case study. The results indicate that the proposed technique is more relevant at the early design stage compared to existing works, and can provide a more realistic and meaningful prediction.

Deriving behavioural models of component-based software systems from requirements specifications

Software behavioural models that derive from early requirements specifications such as use-case scenarios and properties have proven useful in early analysis and checking of the design correctness of individual components or whole system. However, deriving of these models becomes harder as a system specification grows. Expressive scenario description language that able to compact and concise scenario specifications is one of the solutions can enhance the ability of modeling large requirements specifications. Deriving behaviour models from compacted scenario specifications is a challenge related to this solution. This paper, introduce expressive scenario language and outline a process to derive system behavioural models from scenarios of this language in form of Labelled Transition Systems (LTS). In addition, the paper also covers some discussion of how these derived models can help analysis of software quality attributes.

Correction: Technique for Early Reliability Prediction of Software Components Using Behaviour Models.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163346.].

Meta-model validation of integrated MARTE and component-based methodology component model for embedded real-time software

A validation process for integrated model-based methodology for component-based embedded real-time software with a profile is presented in this paper. Unified Modeling Language for Modeling and Analysis Real-Time and Embedded System, as a newly developed profile has been introduced to overcome problems in previous profiles. Nevertheless, a sound and systematic methodology is needed in order to tackle complexity problems that arose. The objective of this paper is to validate the integrated profile and a selected component-based methodology component model for satisfying embedded real-time software requirements, thus helping engineers to model their system, enhancing the structure and component modeling. For that, this paper described a component model meta-model validation process using quality matching for the integration process, involving a profile and a methodology. Nevertheless, this paper focused more towards the validation of the integrated component model before can be implemented on Embedded Real-Time software development, whereby the proposed integration component model is applied on a case study to show its enhancements. The integration result will support to solve complexity whereby the profile is used to solve the lack of specific modeling language notation for embedded real-time system and the method can provide a systematical software process.

Enhancing the Rapid Object Process for Embedded System (ROPES) Metamodel to Support Pattern Oriented Development

The complexity of Embedded Real Time (ERT) software development represents a challenging of analyzing, designing and building ERT software. From this standpoint, the complexity of ERT software development means a challenging to adopt all ERT software requirements such as timing and resource constraints into its software life cycle. Against these claims, a wide range of software development methodologies has been devised such as patterns. Patterns codify an effective solution for recurring problems, which allows software engineers to reuse. By applying patterns into ERT software development, the complexity of ERT software development may be decreased and at the same time promote a high degree of reuse through software patterns. This paper presents the integrated Rapid Object Process for Embedded System (ROPES) and Pattern-oriented Analysis and Design (POAD) methodology to show a promising way to build ERT software with software patterns reuse. To make the integrated methodology more compelling and confirm the rules of patterns oriented modeling, the integrated ROPES and POAD metamodel has been developed. The aim of the integrated metamodel is to conform to the correctness of the integrated methodology modeling rules together with patterns. To prove the correctness of the integrated metamodel, the mapping process between the Meta-Object Facility (MOF) and proposed metamodel by using graph theory has been conducted.