Objective measurement of test quality is one of the key issues in software testing. It has been a major research focus for the last two decades. Many test criteria have been proposed and studied for this purpose. Various kinds of rationales have been presented in support of one criterion or another. We survey the research work in this area. The notion of adequacy criteria is examined together with its role in software dynamic testing. A review of criteria classification is followed by a summary of the methods for comparison and assessment of criteria.

/pdf/software-unit-test-coverage-and-adequacy-43qk91tobg.pdf

Software unit test coverage and adequacy

Learning to act using real-time dynamic programming

This paper reports several properties of heuristic best-first search strategies whose scoring functions ƒ depend on all the information available from each candidate path, not merely on the current cost g and the estimated completion cost h. It is shown that several known properties of A* retain their form (with the minmax of f playing the role of the optimal cost), which helps establish general tests of admissibility and general conditions for node expansion for these strategies. On the basis of this framework the computational optimality of A*, in the sense of never expanding a node that can be skipped by some other algorithm having access to the same heuristic information that A* uses, is examined. A hierarchy of four optimality types is defined and three classes of algorithms and four domains of problem instances are considered. Computational performances relative to these algorithms and domains are appraised. For each class-domain combination, we then identify the strongest type of optimality that exists and the algorithm for achieving it. The main results of this paper relate to the class of algorithms that, like A*, return optimal solutions (i.e., admissible) when all cost estimates are optimistic (i.e., h ≤ h*). On this class, A* is shown to be not optimal and it is also shown that no optimal algorithm exists, but if the performance tests are confirmed to cases in which the estimates are also consistent, then A* is indeed optimal. Additionally, A* is also shown to be optimal over a subset of the latter class containing all best-first algorithms that are guided by path-dependent evaluation functions.

/pdf/generalized-best-first-search-strategies-and-the-optimality-4xzavs70oy.pdf

Generalized best-first search strategies and the optimality of A*

http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~allen/PHOTOPAPERS/flynn.3D.survey.pdf

A Survey Of Free-Form Object Representation and Recognition Techniques

Identification and removal of surface depressions is a critical step for automated modelling of surface rainfall runoff based on Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). At present, nearly all GIS and hydrologic software packages employ Jenson and Domingue's method for preparing depressionless DEMs for hydrologic analysis. This conventional method is computationally intensive and time‐consuming. With the growing availability of high‐resolution DEMs produced by airborne LIDAR and InSAR techniques, GIS‐based hydrologic applications often need to handle larger geographic areas at finer resolutions. In the face of high‐resolution DEMs, the conventional method becomes inadequate and deficient. In this paper, we present a new method for efficiently identifying and filling surface depressions in DEMs. This method can simultaneously determine flow paths and spatial partition of watersheds with one pass of processing. A novel concept of spill elevation and the least‐cost search for optimal flow paths are the two cornersto...

An efficient method for identifying and filling surface depressions in digital elevation models for hydrologic analysis and modelling

We can trace the evolution of software test engineering by examining changes in the testing process model and the level of professionalism over the years. The current definition of a good software testing practice involves some preventive methodology.

The growth of software testing

http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/users/wwwb/cgi-bin/tr-get.cgi/1975/CS/CS0049.pdf

On The Optimality Of A

The operation of a deletion-directed search strategy for resolution-based proof procedures is discussed. The strategy attempts to determine the satisfiability of a set of input clauses while at the same time minimizing the cardinality of the set of retained clauses. E-representation, a new clause deletion rule which is fundamental to the operation of the search strategy, is also described.

/pdf/deletion-directed-search-in-resolution-based-proof-3v0aueqpxk.pdf

Deletion-directed search in resolution-based proof procedures

Bob attempts to figure out exactly what Agile development is and where it works by analyzing the Agile Manifesto and its supporting principles. He proposes changes to some troubling statements.

David Gelperin

Papers

The growth of software testing

On The Optimality Of A

Deletion-directed search in resolution-based proof procedures

Exploring agile

Testing maintainability