Architecture-based testing using goals and plans

This paper presents a specification-based testing approach that compares software specifications defined at different f abstraction, e.g. architecture and implementation, against specified system goals. We believe that a goal-driven approach that connects several development artifacts through verification of specified goals provides useful traceability links between those artifacts as well as an efficient testing technique. Our approach begins with a system goal graph in which high-level goals are step-wise refined into low-level functional goals that can be realized as code components. Each of the architectural components is associated with a plan that describes the component’s functional behavior. Source code is annotated with goals from plans and events that achieve the goals; code is then precompiled to emit those goals and events at run time. Plans are automatically translated into a rule-based recognizer. An oracle is produced from the pre- and post-conditions associat...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: ISSTA
• Authors: Kristina Winbladh, Thomas A. Alspaugh, Hadar Ziv, Debra J. Richardson
• Keywords: ISSTA 2006, Low-level Functional Goals, Software Engineering, Specification-based Testing