Combining the animation and testing of abstract data types

Abstract

A formal specification animator interprets and executes specifications to give them the appearance of liveliness. This can be used to identify errors in a specification because it provides concrete examples of the behaviour of the specification. By providing a suitable user interface, it allows users unfamiliar with specification languages and notations to interact with the specification. We exploit the similarities between animation and testing, and present a method that combines specification animation and software testing of abstract data types (ADTs). Tool support is provided by Peach, which supports the animation of a specification and the testing of an implementation of that specification. We demonstrate the use of our method and tool on a small example, and discuss its application to a larger example.