Automated Module Testing in Prolog

  • Authors:
  • Daniel M. Hoffman;Paul Strooper

  • Affiliations:
  • -;-

  • Venue:
  • IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering
  • Year:
  • 1991

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Abstract

Tools and techniques for writing scripts in Prolog that automatically test modules implemented in C are presented. Both the input generation and the test oracle problems are addressed, focusing on a balance between the adequacy of the test inputs and the cost of developing the output oracle. The authors investigate automated input generation according to functional testing, random testing, and a novel approach based on trace invariants. For each input generation scheme, a mechanism for generating the expected outputs has been developed. The methods are described and illustrated in detail. Script development and maintenance costs appear to be reasonable, and run-time performance appears to be acceptable.