An automated object-oriented testing for C++ inheritance hierarchy

Abstract

This paper proposes a concept named unit repeated inheritance (URI) in Z notation to realize object-oriented testing of an inheritance hierarchy. Based on this unit, an inheritance level technique (ILT) method as a guide to test object-oriented software errors in the inheritance hierarchy is described. In addition, two testing criteria, intralevel first and interlevel first, are formed based on the proposed mechanism. Moreover, in order to make the test process automatic, we use LEX and YACC to automatically generate a lexical analyzer and a parser to demonstrate a declaration of C++ source code. And, we also construct a windowing tool used in conjunction with a conventional C++ programming environment to assist a programmer to analyze and test his/her C++ programs.