Rodolfo Adamshuk Silva

Research in concurrent software testing: a systematic review

The current increased demand for distributed applications in domains such as web services and cloud computing has significantly increased interest in concurrent programming. This demand in turn has resulted in new testing methodologies for such systems, which take account of the challenges necessary to test these applications. This paper presents a systematic review of the published research related to concurrent testing approaches, bug classification and testing tools. A systematic review is a process of collection, assessment and interpretation of the published papers related to a specific search question, designed to provide a background for further research. The results include information about the research relationships and research teams that are working in the different areas of concurrent programs testing.

A systematic review on search based mutation testing

ContextSearch Based Software Testing refers to the use of meta-heuristics for the optimization of a task in the context of software testing. Meta-heuristics can solve complex problems in which an optimum solution must be found among a large amount of possibilities. The use of meta-heuristics in testing activities is promising because of the high number of inputs that should be tested. Previous studies on search based software testing have focused on the application of meta-heuristics for the optimization of structural and functional criteria. Recently, some researchers have proposed the use of SBST for mutation testing and explored solutions for the cost of application of this testing criterion. ObjectiveThe objective is to identify how SBST has been explored in the context of mutation testing, how fitness functions are defined and the challenges and research opportunities in the application of meta-heuristic search techniques. MethodA systematic review involving 263 papers published between 1996 and 2014 examined the studies on the use of meta-heuristic search techniques for the optimization of mutation testing. ResultsThe results show meta-heuristic search techniques have been applied for the optimization of test data generation, mutant generation and selection of effective mutation operators. Five meta-heuristic techniques, namely Genetic Algorithm, Ant Colony, Bacteriological Algorithm, Hill Climbing and Simulated Annealing have been used in search based mutation testing. The review addressed different fitness functions used to guide the search. ConclusionSearch based mutation testing is a field of interest, however, some issues remain unexplored. For instance, the use of meta-heuristics for the selection of effective mutation operators was identified in only one study. The results have pointed a range of possibilities for new studies to be developed, i.e., identification of equivalent mutants, experimental studies and application to different domains, such as concurrent programs.

Concurrent software testing in practice: a catalog of tools

The testing of concurrent programs is very complex due to the non-determinism present in those programs. They must be subjected to a systematic testing process that assists in the identification of defects and guarantees quality. Although testing tools have been proposed to support the concurrent program testing, to the best of our knowledge, no study that concentrates all testing tools to be used as a catalog for testers is available in the literature. This paper proposes a new classification for a set of testing tools for concurrent programs, regarding attributes, such as testing technique supported, programming language, and paradigm of development. The purpose is to provide a useful categorization guide that helps testing practitioners and researchers in the selection of testing tools for concurrent programs. A systematic mapping was conducted so that studies on testing tools for concurrent programs could be identified. As a main result, we provide a catalog with 116 testing tools appropriately selected and classified, among which the following techniques were identified: functional testing, structural testing, mutation testing, model based testing, data race and deadlock detection, deterministic testing and symbolic execution. The programming languages with higher support were Java and C/C++. Although a large number of tools have been categorized, most of them are academic and only few are available on a commercial scale. The classification proposed here can contribute to the state-of-the-art of testing tools for concurrent programs and also provides information for the exchange of knowledge between academy and industry.

USING A REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TESTING TOOL FOR CONCURRENT SOFTWARE

Concurrent programming became a popular paradigm for software development.Mutation Testing is a criterion based on the most common mistakes that might be madeby software developers. Software architecture stepped in to deal with large and complexsystems. In this area we find reference architecture, which is an architectural pattern thatdescribes all systems in a domain, for example, RefTEST to software testing domain.This paper presents the instantiation of architecture for a mutation testing tool. Thisarchitecture has been instantiated based on the RefTEST reference architecture and as aresult can be observed class diagrams of the test tool.

Plano de Teste para Validação do Subframework de Análise Semântica de Fórmulas

A atividade de teste de software e uma atividade muito importante pertencente ao processo de desenvolvimento do software. Esta atividade pode ser realizada por meio da utilizacao de tecnicas de testes de software que permitem a identificacao e eliminacao de erros que persistem. Para auxiliar esta atividade e necessario criar um documento que descreve toda a atividade de teste, chamado de plano de teste. Este trabalho tem como objetivo criar e aplicar um plano de teste em um subframework de analise semântica de formulas que foi desenvolvido pelo Grupo de Pesquisa em Engenharia de Software da UTFPR Câmpus Ponta Grossa. Durante o processo de testes foram realizados varios casos que permitiram melhorar a qualidade do produto, minimizando a quantidade de erros que poderiam ser encontrados pelos usuarios finais e diminuindo o custo de manutencao.