Showing papers on "Test suite published in 1989"

Automatic generation of test scripts from formal test specifications

Abstract: TSL is a language for writing formal test specifications of the functions of a software system. The test specifications are compiled into executable test scripts that establish test environments, assign values to input variables, perform necessary setup and cleanup operations, run the test cases, and check the correctness of test results. TSL is a working system that has been used to test commercial software in a production environment.

Interconnection length estimation for optimized standard cell layouts

Abstract: An accurate model for the prediction of interconnection lengths for standard cell layouts is presented. On the designs in the test suite estimates are within 10% of the actual layouts. The model abstracts the important features of placement, global routing, and channel routing. The predicted results are obtained from analysis of the net list. No prior knowledge of the functionality of the design is used. Accurate prediction of the interconnection length is useful for estimating the actual layout area, for evaluating the fit of a logic design to a fabrication technology, and for solving placement and routing algorithms. >

A CASE study in module testing

Abstract: A practical approach to module regression testing aimed at reducing the cost of test development, execution and maintenance is presented. Test cases are formally defined using a language based on module traces and a software tool is used to automatically generate test programs to apply the cases. The testing approach, language and program generator are described in detail and illustrated with a case study. >

Below a minute burn-in

Abstract: An electronic component test procedure which can employ a combination of stress, test, and sort techniques useful for consolidating package test, burn-in test and qualification tests. The process can be automated to avoid batch process and virtually eliminate manual handling. Components are sorted according to initial values and mathematical stress models.

Module test case generation

Abstract: While considerable attention has been given to techniques for developing complex systems as collections of reliable and reusable modules, little is known about testing these modules. In the literature, the special problems of module testing have been largely ignored and few tools or techniques are available to the practicing tester. Without effective testing methods, the development and maintenance of reliable and reusable modules is difficult indeed.We describe an approach for systematic module regression testing. Test cases are defined formally using a language based on module traces, and a software tool is used to automatically generate test programs that apply the cases. Techniques for test case generation in C and in Prolog are presented and illustrated in detail.

Implementations of the branch-and-bound method for test construction problems

Abstract: Item banks, large sets of test items, can be used for the construction of achievement tests. Mathematical programming models have been proposed for the selection of items from an item bank for a test. These models make automated test construction possible. However, to find an optimal or even an approximate optimal solution to a test construction model can be time consuming. This paper shows how test construction models, and in particular the Maximin Model, are solvable by the program MPSX/370 V2. This program offers the user several implementations of the branch-and-bound method, which can be used for solving test construction models. Several implementations are compared. The results show that test construction models are solvable in a practical amount of time if the user applies the options offered by the program in an intelligent way. An appendix describes the Extended Control Language (ECL) computer program.

A comprehensive software environment for developing standardized conformance test suites

Abstract: In this paper, we describe the design of an integrated software environment under development by the University of Ottawa and Bell-Northern Research in the TOCS (Testing Open Communications Systems) Project for specifying, designing, validating and maintaining abstract conformance test suites in the standard test notation TTCN. We illustrate the use of this facility by summarizing our experience with the development and maintenance of a standardized, abstract conformance test suite for X.25 DTEs.

UTILE system: a unified environment from simulation to test

Abstract: The UTILE (unified test integrated language and environment) system, a unified environment from simulation to test for logic circuits, is described. The system is built around a high-level algorithmic language to describe simulation sequences in terms of functional cycles. The environment provided is independent of the simulator used and the test system, and makes it possible to perform simulation and test-related tasks, from circuit validation to test program generation. >

FTAM test design using an automated test tool

Abstract: An experience is presented with an automated test design tool for functional analysis and test derivation of distributed systems formally specified using Estelle, a description technique based on an extended finite-state machine model. The tool accepts a formal specification of the system and generates control, data flow graphs, and unparameterised test sequences. The tool has been used, on an experimental basis, for conformance test design of ISO File, Transfer, access and Management protocols. >

Design Specification for Test and Evaluation of the NATO Common Ada Programming Support Environment (APSE) Interface Set (CAIS) Implementation

Abstract: : A North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Special Working Group ( SWG) on Ada Programming Support Environments (APSEs) was established in October 1986. Its charter is to develop a tool set that constitutes an APSE, to evaluate the APSE on both an individual component basis and on a holistic level, and to define a NATO interface standard for APSEs. A specific task within the associated MITRE work program is to develop the design to perform test and evaluation of SWG Common APSE Interface Set (CAIS) implementations. The SWG CAIS is the agreed-upon tool interface set for the NATO effort and is a variant of the CAIS standard, DOD-STD-1838. CAIS provides a standard set of kernel interfaces for APSE tools, thus promoting portability of tools across disparate architectures. The SWG CAIS is complex; there are over 500 unique interfaces defined in 29 Ada packages with over 1,600 possible error conditions. This report outlines an approach and specifies the design for the development of the test and evaluation environment. The design outlines the tests to be developed and discusses attributes of the test environment that influence the design of the test suite.

A practical approach to evaluating test results

Abstract: The author describes the procedure used at NCR Corporation to evaluate the data collected during usability tests He points out that it can be overwhelming to face a mass of data to be compiled, categorized, analyzed, and evaluated at the end of a test, with limited time available for producing a report This situation is avoided by defining, before a test, the tools that will be used to collect the test data and the process by which the results will be evaluated, and then performing the preliminary evaluation of data in a process parallel with the test itself At the end of the test, an evaluation meeting is held at which the cumulative results are reviewed and solutions to the problems that have been identified are defined >

Automated application software generator

Abstract: It is noted that the development of test programs used with automatic test systems is highly complex and labor-intensive, requiring a high level of engineering training and skill. An automated software tool has been developed to automate these tasks. A workstation system has been developed that interactively aids the application test programmer in composing a test program, using techniques of artificial intelligence and fifth-generation languages. The system architecture utilizes a set of rules to describe the test capabilities of a target test station and provides a corresponding set of target code generators. The kernel processor displays a sequential set of menus, showing the test writer the range of test, stimuli, and measurement possibilities, and allows appropriate selections to be made. The corresponding code generators are then invoked to create the application test program described by the menu selections. Successful results have been obtained with a subset of a full-scale automatic test system language. >

Test program development using multiple test strategies

Abstract: Multistrategy testing allows the test developer to choose the appropriate combination of test approaches to meet the test requirements given the economic and timescale constraints. After describing the goals of test program development, the author discusses major styles of testing, connectivity tests, digital and analog functional tests, analog and digital in-circuit tests, emulation tests, and structured design for testability. Other issues considered are architecture support for multistrategy testing, modular test structures, and separate test execution and diagnosis. >

Construction and evaluation of a prototype topological information retrieval system

Abstract: A prototype topological information retrieval system (TIRS) has been created and subjected to preliminary testing. Two standard test suites, the CACM collection and the MED collection, were used in the test. The queries in each test suite were converted into disjunctive normal form and one document-retrieval pass was performed for each converted query. Precision and recall were measured for each query. The average value for precision was 0.763, while the average value for recall was 0.188. These values correspond to values of 0.529 and 0.114 for a slightly modified Boolean retrieval run as a control case. An analysis of the results indicates that the TIRS prototype performs significantly better than the Boolean control at >or=0.999 level of confidence. >