Abstract
Recently, many formal methods, such as the SCR (Software Cost Reduction) requirements method, have been proposed for improving the quality of software specifications. Although improved specifications are valuable, the ultimate objective of software development is to produce software that satisfies its requirements. To evaluate the correctness of a software implementation, one can apply black-box testing to determine whether the implementation, given a sequence of system inputs, produces the correct system outputs. This paper describes a specification-based method for constructing a suite of test sequences, where a test sequence is a sequence of inputs and outputs for testing a software implementation. The test sequences are derived from a tabular SCR requirements specification containing diverse data types, i.e., integer, boolean, and enumerated types. From the functions defined in the SCR specification, the method forms a collection of predicates called branches, which “cover” all possible software behaviors described by the specification. Based on these predicates, the method then derives a suite of test sequences by using a model checker’s ability to construct counterexamples. The paper presents the results of applying our method to four specifications, including a sizable component of a contractor specification of a real system.
This research is funded by the Office of Naval Research and SPAWAR.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
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
P. Ammann, P. Black, and W. Majurski. Using model checking to generate tests from specifications. In Proc. 2nd IEEE Intern. Conf. on Formal Engineering Methods (ICFEM’98), Brisbane, Australia, December 1998.
B. Beizer. Software Testing Techniques. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1983.
R. Bharadwaj and C. Heitmeyer. Model checking complete requirements specifications using abstraction. Automated Software Eng. J., 6(1), January 1999.
M. R. Blackburn, R. D. Busser, and J. S. Fontaine. Automatic generation of test vectors for SCR-style specifications. In Proc. 12th Annual Conf. on Computer Assurance (COMPASS’ 97), Gaithersburg, MD, June 1997.
J. Callahan, F. Schneider, and S. Easterbrook. Specification-based testing using model checking. In Proc. SPIN Workshop, Rutgers University, August 1996. Tech. Report NASA-IVV-96-022.
P.-J. Courtois and David L. Parnas. Documentation for safety critical software. In Proc. 15th Int’l Conf. on Softw. Eng. (ICSE’ 93), Baltimore, MD, 1993.
S. Easterbrook and J. Callahan. Formal methods for verification and validation of partial specifications: A case study. Journal of Systems and Software, 1997.
A. Engels, L.M.G. Feijs, and S. Mauw. Test generation for intelligent networks using model checking. In Proc. TACAS’97, pages 384–398. Springer, 1997. in E. Brinksma, editor, LNCS 1217.
S. R. Faulk, L. Finneran, J. Kirby, Jr., S. Shah, and J. Sutton. Experience applying the CoRE method to the Lockheed C-130J. In Proc. 9th Annual Conf. on Computer Assurance (COMPASS’ 94), Gaithersburg, MD, June 1994.
S. Fujiwara, G. Bochmann, F. Khendek, M. Amalou, and A. Ghedamsi. Test selection based on finite state models. IEEE Trans. on Softw. Eng., 17(6), June 1991.
K. Havelund and N. Shankar. Experiments in theorem proving and model checking for protocol verification. In Proc. Formal Methods Europe (FME’96), pages 662–681. Springer-Verlag, March 1996. LNCS 1051.
C. Heitmeyer, J. Kirby, B. Labaw, M. Archer, and R. Bharadwaj. Using abstraction and model checking to detect safety violations in requirements specifications. IEEE Trans. on Softw. Eng., 24(11), November 1998.
C. Heitmeyer, J. Kirby, Jr., and B. Labaw. Tools for formal specification, verification, and validation of requirements. In Proc. 12th Annual Conf. on Computer Assurance (COMPASS’ 97), Gaithersburg, MD, June 1997.
C. L. Heitmeyer, R. D. Jeffords, and B. G. Labaw. Automated consistency checking of requirements specifications. ACM Trans. on Software Eng. and Methodology, 5(3):231–261, April–June 1996.
K. Heninger, D. Parnas, J. Shore, and J. Kallander. Software requirements for the A-7E aircraft. Technical Report 3876, Naval Research Lab., Wash., DC, 1978.
G. J. Holzmann. The model checker SPIN. IEEE Trans. on Software Engineering, 23(5):279–295, May 1997.
W. E. Howden. A functional approach to program testing and analysis. IEEE Trans. on Softw. Eng., 15:997–1005, October 1986.
R. Jeffords and C. Heitmeyer. Automatic generation of state invariants from requirements specifications. In Proc. Sixth ACM SIGSOFT Symp. on Foundations of Software Engineering, November 1998.
D. Mandrioli, S. Morasca, and A. Morzenti. Generating test cases for real-time systems from logic specifications. ACM Trans. on Computer Systems, 13(4):365–398, 1995.
K. L. McMillan. Symbolic Model Checking. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1993.
S. P. Miller. Specifying the mode logic of a flight guidance system in CoRE and SCR. In Proc. 2nd ACM Workshop on Formal Methods in Software Practice (FMSP’98), 1998.
D. J. Richardson, S. L. Aha, and T. O’Malley. Specification-based test oracles for reactive systems. In Proc. 14th Intern. Conf. on Software Eng., pages 105–118. Springer, May 1992.
P. Stocks and D. Carrington. A framework for specification-based testing. IEEE Trans. on Softw. Eng., 22(11):777–793, November 1996.
E. Weyuker, T. Goradia, and A. Singh. Automatically generating test data from a boolean specification. IEEE Trans. on Softw. Eng., 20:353–363, May 1994.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Gargantini, A., Heitmeyer, C. (1999). Using Model Checking to Generate Tests from Requirements Specifications. In: Nierstrasz, O., Lemoine, M. (eds) Software Engineering — ESEC/FSE ’99. ESEC SIGSOFT FSE 1999 1999. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1687. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48166-4_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48166-4_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-66538-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48166-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive