SBIR Phase II: An Aspect-Oriented Solution for Unit Test Generation

这个小型企业创新研究第二阶段项目旨在使为Java程序创建单元级回归测试变得更加容易。它们的好处是显而易见的，但是创建它们的现有技术是有缺陷的，因为它们很难应用于现有代码，而且工具支持需要修改目标代码。其创新之处在于对感兴趣的模块的黄金标准版本进行检测，以便当客户端应用程序执行时，所有跨越模块边界的事件都会被拦截并记录到文件中。稍后，在单元被修改或扩展之后，并且不需要客户端应用程序的任何进一步需求，事件可以被重构并馈送到单元。检查结果与日志的一致性，并将差异标记为错误。这使得用户更容易为模块创建测试套件。该方法是可行的，通过使用面向对象的编程，和对象模仿。研究的挑战是：如何设计技术来容忍目标模块中允许的更改，以及如何减少单个故障触发大量级联故障的机会。使用先进的静态分析技术，包括依赖性分析，是解决这些问题的关键。如果成功的话，这个系统将帮助软件开发组织降低开发和维护软件资产的成本，同时提高其质量。它将有助于提高医疗设备或飞行控制系统等安全关键软件的保证，从而降低财产损失和生命损失的风险。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project aims to make it much easier to create unit-level regression tests for Java programs. Their benefits are clear, but existing techniques for creating them are flawed because they are difficult to apply to existing code, and tool support requires modification of the target code. The innovation is to instrument a gold-standard version of the module of interest so that when a client application executes, all events that cross the boundary to the module are intercepted and logged to a file. Later, after the unit has been modified or extended, and without any further need for the client application, the events can be reconstructed and fed to the unit. The results are checked for consistency with the log, and discrepancies flagged as faults. This makes it much easier for a user to create a test suite for a module. The approach is made feasible by using Aspect-Oriented Programming, and object mocking. The research challenges are: how to devise techniques for tolerating permitted changes in the target module, and how to reduce the chances of a single failure triggering a profusion of cascading failures. The use of advanced static analysis techniques, including dependence analysis, is the key to solving these problems.If successful, this system will help software development organizations reduce the cost of development and maintenance of their software assets while at the same time increasing its quality. It will help increase assurance of safety-critical software, such as in medical equipment, or flight-control systems, thus reducing the risk of damage to property and loss of life.