Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Data-flow (DF) testing was introduced more than thirty years ago aiming at verifying a program by extensively exploring its structure. It requires tests that traverse paths in which the assignment of a value to a variable (a definition) and its subsequent reference (a use) is verified. This relationship is called definition-use association (dua). While control-flow (CF) testing tools have being able to tackle systems composed of large and long running programs, DF testing tools have failed to do so. This situation is in part due to the costs associated with tracking duas at run-time. Recently, an algorithm, called Bitwise Algorithm (BA), which uses bit vectors and bitwise operations for tracking intra-procedural duas at run-time, was proposed. This research presents the implementation of BA for programs compiled into Java bytecodes. Previous DF approaches were able to deal with small to medium size programs with high penalties in terms of execution and memory. Our experimental results show that by using BA we are able to tackle large systems with more than 250 KLOCs and 300K required duas. Furthermore, for several programs the execution penalty was comparable with that imposed by a popular CF testing tool.
Author: Roberto Paulo Andrioli de Araujo
Institution: Universidade de São Paulo
Language: English
Subfield: Software
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1480496626