A Formal Architecture-Based Approach to Software IntegrationTesting

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9710078 A formal software architecture specification makes the analysis, design, and construction of a complex system intellectually tractable by characterizing the system at a high level of abstraction. This project focuses on revealing defects in the dynamic interaction and communication behavior of system components through testing techniques applied at the architectural level. While testing has historically concentrated on the implementation as the target of inquiry, this research instead considers the architectural specification of the system as the target. There are five major contributions to software architecture and software testing technology arising from this research. First, a set of architecture-based integration test criteria are defined to provide requirements for testing architectural aspects of a system; methods are also developed for applying these criteria to architectural styles and domain-specific architectures. Second, methods are developed for testing an implementation in terms of its conformance to a specified architecture via architecture conformance oracles. Third, architecture-level slicing techniques are defined for localizing architectural defects and minimizing regression testing. Fourth, methods are developed for using feature tests to discover the architecture of a system from its implementation. In addition, various approaches to formal architecture specification are evaluated with respect to their suitability to testing technologies. ***