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Tools and experiments supporting a testing-based theory of component composition

Author:

Dick HamletAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM), Volume 18, Issue 3

Article No.: 12, Pages 1 - 41

https://doi.org/10.1145/1525880.1525885

Published: 04 June 2009 Publication History

Abstract

Development of software using off-the-shelf components seems to offer a chance for improving product quality and developer productivity. This article reviews a foundational testing-based theory of component composition, describes tools that implement the theory, and presents experiments with functional and nonfunctional component/system properties that validate the theory and illuminate issues in component composition.

The context for this work is an ideal form of Component-Based Software Development (CBSD) supported by tools. Component developers describe their components by measuring approximations to functional and nonfunctional behavior on a finite collection of subdomains. Systems designers describe an application-system structure by the component connections that form it. From measured component descriptions and a system structure, a CAD tool synthesizes the system properties, predicting how the system will behave. The system is not built, nor are any test executions performed. Neither the component sources nor executables are needed by systems designers. From CAD calculations a designer can learn (approximately) anything that could be learned by testing an actual system implementation. The CAD tool is often more efficient than it would be to assemble and execute an actual system.

Using tools that support an ideal separation between component- and system development, experiments were conducted to investigate two related questions: (1) To what extent can unit (that is, component) testing replace system testing? (2) What properties of software and subdomains influence the quality of subdomain testing?

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Cited By

Grohmann JEismann SElflein SKistowski JKounev SMazkatli M(2019)Detecting Parametric Dependencies for Performance Models Using Feature Selection Techniques2019 IEEE 27th International Symposium on Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems (MASCOTS)10.1109/MASCOTS.2019.00042(309-322)Online publication date: Oct-2019
https://doi.org/10.1109/MASCOTS.2019.00042
Isa MJawawi D(2018)A Methodology for Model-Based Reliability EstimationComputer Systems and Software Engineering10.4018/978-1-5225-3923-0.ch018(461-484)Online publication date: 2018
https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-3923-0.ch018
HOU CWANG JCHEN C(2018)Using Hierarchical Scenarios to Predict the Reliability of Component-Based SoftwareIEICE Transactions on Information and Systems10.1587/transinf.2017EDP7127E101.D:2(405-414)Online publication date: 2018
https://doi.org/10.1587/transinf.2017EDP7127
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Index Terms

Tools and experiments supporting a testing-based theory of component composition
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software creation and management
    1. Software verification and validation
      1. Software defect analysis
        Software testing and debugging

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Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology

ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology Volume 18, Issue 3

May 2009

142 pages

ISSN:1049-331X

EISSN:1557-7392

DOI:10.1145/1525880

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2009 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 04 June 2009

Accepted: 01 December 2007

Revised: 01 September 2007

Received: 01 October 2006

Published in TOSEM Volume 18, Issue 3

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Cited By

Grohmann JEismann SElflein SKistowski JKounev SMazkatli M(2019)Detecting Parametric Dependencies for Performance Models Using Feature Selection Techniques2019 IEEE 27th International Symposium on Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems (MASCOTS)10.1109/MASCOTS.2019.00042(309-322)Online publication date: Oct-2019
https://doi.org/10.1109/MASCOTS.2019.00042
Isa MJawawi D(2018)A Methodology for Model-Based Reliability EstimationComputer Systems and Software Engineering10.4018/978-1-5225-3923-0.ch018(461-484)Online publication date: 2018
https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-3923-0.ch018
HOU CWANG JCHEN C(2018)Using Hierarchical Scenarios to Predict the Reliability of Component-Based SoftwareIEICE Transactions on Information and Systems10.1587/transinf.2017EDP7127E101.D:2(405-414)Online publication date: 2018
https://doi.org/10.1587/transinf.2017EDP7127
Singh LRajput H(2018)Dependability Analysis of Safety Critical Real-Time Systems by Using Petri NetsIEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology10.1109/TCST.2017.266914726:2(415-426)Online publication date: Mar-2018
https://doi.org/10.1109/TCST.2017.2669147
Eismann SWalter Jvon Kistowski JKounev S(2018)Modeling of Parametric Dependencies for Performance Prediction of Component-Based Software Systems at Run-Time2018 IEEE International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA)10.1109/ICSA.2018.00023(135-13509)Online publication date: Apr-2018
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSA.2018.00023
Hou CChen CWang JShi K(2016)Reliability Analysis for Software Cluster Systems Based on Proportional Hazard Model2016 IEEE 40th Annual Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC)10.1109/COMPSAC.2016.177(32-41)Online publication date: Jun-2016
https://doi.org/10.1109/COMPSAC.2016.177
HOU CCHEN CWANG JSHI K(2015)A Scenario-Based Reliability Analysis Approach for Component-Based SoftwareIEICE Transactions on Information and Systems10.1587/transinf.2014EDP7241E98.D:3(617-626)Online publication date: 2015
https://doi.org/10.1587/transinf.2014EDP7241
Brosig FMeier PBecker SKoziolek AKoziolek HKounev S(2015)Quantitative Evaluation of Model-Driven Performance Analysis and Simulation of Component-Based ArchitecturesIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering10.1109/TSE.2014.236275541:2(157-175)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2015
https://doi.org/10.1109/TSE.2014.2362755
Hamlet D(2015)Theory of Software Testing With Persistent StateIEEE Transactions on Reliability10.1109/TR.2015.243644364:3(1098-1115)Online publication date: Sep-2015
https://doi.org/10.1109/TR.2015.2436443
Isa MJawawi D(2014)A Methodology for Model-Based Reliability EstimationHandbook of Research on Emerging Advancements and Technologies in Software Engineering10.4018/978-1-4666-6026-7.ch020(450-472)Online publication date: 2014
https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-6026-7.ch020
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