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>Publications>JSS06_SARTE |
Henry Muccini
Ph.D. in Computer Science |
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[JSS06_SARTE]
"Software Architecture-based Regression Testing"
Authors: H. Muccini, M. Dias and D. J. Richardson.
In: the Journal of Systems and Software (JSS), Special
Issue on "Architecting Dependable Systems". To appear.
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Abstract:
Software architectures are becoming centric to the
development of quality software systems,
being the first concrete model of the software system
and the base to guide the implementation of software
systems. When architecting dependable systems, in
addition to improving system dependability by means of
construction (fault-tolerant and redundant mechanisms,
for instance), it is also important to evaluate, and
thereby confirm, system dependability.
There are many different approaches for evaluating
system dependability, and testing has been always an
important one, being fault removal one of the means to
achieve dependable systems.
Previous work on software architecture-based testing has
shown it is possible to apply conformance testing
techniques to yield some confidence on the implemented
system conformance to expected, architecture-level,
behaviors.
This work explores how regression testing can be
systematically applied at the software
architecture level in order to reduce the cost of
retesting modified systems, and also to
assess the regression testability of the evolved system.
We consider assessing both “lowlevel”
and “high-level” evolution, i.e., whether a slightly
modified implementation conforms to the initial
architecture, and whether the implementation continues
to conform to an evolved architecture. A better
understanding on how regression testing can be applied
at the software architecture level will help us to
assess and identify architecture with higher
dependability.
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