From: C.D.Turner@newcastle.ac.uk (Chris Turner)
Newsgroups: comp.object
Subject: Re: Testing (White or Black) OO Code (C++) ?
Date: 11 Nov 92 12:41:53 GMT
Organization: University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, NE1 7RU
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

For all those people who mailed me directly about the technical report,
as promised, here is my complete bibliography on OOT testing papers.

I have annotated it with very brief comments outlining roughly what
each paper is about.

Cheatham T. J. and Mellinger L., Testing Object-Oriented Systems, in
Proceedings of the 18th ACM annual Computer Science Conference, pp. 161-165,
ACM Inc., New York, 1990

This paper mentions a few of the problems fo testing OO, but doesn't really
say a great deal.

Doong. R. K. and Frankl, P., Case Studies in Testing Object-Oriented
Programs, in The Testing, Analysis and Verification Symposium, pp. 165 - 177,
ACM Inc., New York, New York, 1991

This paper is a follow up to the other paper by the same authors (see further
on). It describes their experience of using their method and tools to test
a number of abstract data types.

Fiedler, S. P., Object-Oriented Unit Testing, Hewlett-Packard Journal, pp. 69
- 74, April 1989

One of the first papers I know of, it describes his experience of testing a
project written in an extended version of C++. He applies McCabes cyclomatic
complexity method to the testing of classes.

Frankl, P. G. and Doong, R., Tools for Testing Object-Oriented Programs, in
proceedings of the Pacific NorthWest Conference on Software Quality,
pp. 309 - 324, 1990

describes in detail their functional (black-box) testing method for the
testing of classes described by an Abstract Data Type formal specification.

Harrold M. J., McGregor, J. D. and Fitzpatrick K. J., Incremental Testing of
Object- Oriented Class Structure, in 14th International Conference on 
Software Engineering, ACM, 1992

Describes an incremental algorithm for the testing of class hierarchies. 
Uses a test history to control the execution of both back and white box
unit and integration tests.

Olthoff, W. G., Augumentation of Object Oriented Programming by Concepts of
Abstract Data Type Theory : The ModPascal Experience, in proceedings of the
Object-Oriented Programming: Systems, Languages and Applications Conference,
pp. 429 - 443, SIGPLAN Notices, ACM Inc., 1986

The earliest paper (as far as I know). It uses an extended verison of Pascal,
which includes classes, and various aspects of formal specifications. It is 
based upon the use of formal specification for the verification of Abstract 
Data Types. A different approach to the one taken by Frankl and Doong.

Perry, D. E. and Kaiser, G. E., Adequate Testing and Object Oriented
Programming, Journal of Object-Oriented Programming, pp. 13 - 19,
January/Febuary 1990

This paper attempts to descrbie some of the problems that object-oriented
programming causes when trying to adequately test software (Elaine Weyukers 
test data adequacy stuff).

Smith, M. D. and Robson D. J., Object-Oriented Programming - the Problems of 
Validation, in proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Software 
Maintenance, pp. 272 - 282, IEEE

This paper outlines some of the problems that are associated with the testing
of object- oriented programs, especially from the software maintenance 
standpoint.

Smith, M. D. and Robson, D. J., A Framework for Testing Object-Oriented
Programs, Journal of Object-Oriented Programming, vol. 5, no. 3,
pp. 45 - 53, June 1992

This paper oultines a framework for the testing of object-oriented software.
The framework is object-oriented and allows the inclusion of tester specific 
testing strategies for the guidance of the testing process


Others stuff
============

There has also been two articles posted in this news group by Ed Berard.
One was concerned with general thoughts on the testing of objects. It was
posted about two years ago. I have a feeling his mail address is 
berard@bse.com

The other article was concerned with the specification of test cases
for object-oriented programs. This should also be availible from Ed.

There is also a chapter (13 or 14 I think) in a book by Ivar Jacobson (Hope 
I spelled his name right). The book is called "Object-Oriented Software
Engineering". The chapter describes the application of traditional white 
and black box techniques to the testing of OO programs. Also there is a 
small section discussing the "State-based" testing of OO systems. It is a 
much simple outline of a technique similar to the one I developed.

To all those people who requested the report, sorry for the delay, I hope 
to be able to release it by the start of December. My apologies for the
delay.

Does anyone out there know of any OO testing tools or environments ?

Thanks

Chris Turner

Department of Computer Science University of Durham, DH1 3LE England
Tel. +44 91 374 3657 FAX +44 374 3741 E-Mail C.D.Turner@durham.ac.uk
Newsgroups: comp.object