Abstract
In model-based testing, one of the biggest decisions taken before modelling is the modelling language and the model analysis tool to be used to model the system under investigation. UML, Alloy and Z are examples of popular state-based modelling languages. In the literature, there has been research about the similarities and the differences between modelling languages. However, we believe that, in addition to recognising the expressive power of modelling languages, it is crucial to detect the capabilities and the weaknesses of analysis tools that parse and analyse models written in these languages. In order to explore this area, we have chosen four model analysis tools: USE, Alloy Analyzer, ZLive and ProZ and observed how modelling and validation stages of MBT are handled by these tools for the same system. Through this experiment, we not only concretise the tasks that form the modelling and validation stages of MBT process, but also reveal how efficiently these tasks are carried out in different tools.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Van Lamsweerde, A.: Formal Specification; a Roadmap: The Future of Software Engineering. In: Finkelstein, A. (ed.), ACM Press (2000) ISBN 1-58113-253-0
UML Resource Page (2007), http://www.uml.org/
Bertolino, A., Marchetti, E., Muccini, H.: Introducing a reasonably complete and coherent approach for MBT. Electr. Notes Theor. Comput. Sci. 116, 85–97 (2005)
Cavarra, A., Crichton, C., Davies, J., Hartman, A., Jeron, T., Maunier, L.: Using UML for automatic test case generation. In: Katoen, J.-P., Stevens, P. (eds.) ETAPS 2002 and TACAS 2002. LNCS, vol. 2280. Springer, Heidelberg (2002)
Jackson, D.: A Comparison of Object Modelling Notations: Alloy, UML and Z, MIT Lab for Computer Science (1999)
He, Y.: Comparison of the Modelling Languages Alloy and UML (2006), http://ww1.ucmss.com/books/LFS/CSREA2006/SER4949.pdf
Georg, G., Bieman, J., France, R.: Using Alloy and UML/OCL to Specify Run-Time Configuration Management: A Case Study. In: Workshop of the pUML-Group held together with the UML. LNI, vol. l7 (2001)
Utting, M., Pretschner, A., Legeard, B.: A taxonomy of model-based testing, Working paper series, University of Waikato, Department of Computer Science, 04/2006
Using ProZ for Animation and Model Checking of Z Specifications, http://asap0.cs.uni-duesseldorf.de/trac/prob/wiki/Using%20Z%20with%20ProB
Dalal, S.R., Jain, A., Karunanithi, N., Leaton, J.M., Lott, C.M., Patton, G.C., Horowitz, B.M.: Model-based testing in practice. In: Proceedings of International Conference of Software Engineering ICSE (1999)
Utting, M.: Position paper: Model-based testing, Verified Software: Theories, Tools, Experiments(VSTTE) (2006)
Utting, M., Legeard, B.: Practical Model-Based Testing. Morgan Kauffman (2007)
Bernard, E., Bouquet, F., Charbonnier, A., Legeard, B., Peureux, F., Utting, M., Torreborre, E.: Model-based Testing from UML Models. Lecture Notes in Informatics, pp. 223–230 (2006)
Z Notation, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_notation
The Alloy Analyzer, http://alloy.mit.edu/
Jackson, D.: Software Abstractions: Logic, Language, and Analysis. MIT Press (2006)
UML Specifications Environment, http://www.db.informatik.uni-bremen.de/projects/USE/
Gogolla, M., Buettner, F., Richters, M.: USE: A UML-based specification environment for validating UML and OCL. Sci. Comput. Program 69(1-3), 27–34 (2007)
CZT ZLive, http://czt.sourceforge.net/zlive/index.html
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Aydal, E.G., Utting, M., Woodcock, J. (2008). A Comparison of State-Based Modelling Tools for Model Validation. In: Paige, R.F., Meyer, B. (eds) Objects, Components, Models and Patterns. TOOLS EUROPE 2008. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 11. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69824-1_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69824-1_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-69823-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69824-1
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)