Why Automata Models Are Sexy for Testers? (Invited Talk)

Abstract

Formal methods traditionally aim at verifying and proving correctness (a typical academic activity), while testing can only show the presence of errors (that is what practitioners do). Recently, there is an increasing interest in the use of formal models and methods in testing. In this talk, we first present a traditional framework of model–based testing, considering a variety of state-oriented (automata) models, such as Finite State Machines (FSM), Communicating FSM, Extended FSM, where input and output are coupled for each transition; and input/output automata (a.k.a. transition systems), where inputs are outputs are decoupled. We provide an overview of existing test derivation techniques based on automata models, while paying a special attention to the underlying testing assumptions and fault detection capability of the resulting tests.