Model‐based testing

Abstract

This issue contains two papers. Both papers focus on model-based testing. The first paper, “RATE: A Model-Based Testing Approach That Combines Model Refinement and Test Execution” by Andrea Bombarda, Silvia Bonfanti, Angelo Gargantini, Yu Lei, and Feng Duan, presents the RATE approach and its application to three case studies. The RATE approach helps testers verify the compliance of the actual implementation with respect to the specification of the system under test (SUT). In particular, the approach starts from an initial model of the SUT and refines the model based on the testing results of the previous refinement. The approach derives tests from Avalla scenarios written manually during validation or automatically generated from the model using the ATGT tool. The approach then executes the tests on the code implementation to obtain coverage information in order to identify missing system features or behaviours (not captured in the model) and add them to the next refinement. The authors have applied the approach to three different case studies and have shown the approach’s effectiveness. (Recommended by Manuel Nunez). The second paper, “Coloured Petri Nets for Abstract Test Generation in Software Engineering” by Alvaro Sobrinho, Ially Almeida, Leandro Dias da Silva, Lenardo Chaves e Silva, Adriano Araújo, Tassio Fernandes Costa, and Angelo Perkusich, presents an investigation of the current approaches of abstract test generation for Coloured Petri Nets (CPN) in order to guide testers to select a suitable approach when conducting model-based testing using CPN. In particular, the authors conduct a systematic literature review to investigate the current approaches of abstract test generation for CPN and then focus on specific implementations and advantages/disadvantages. The authors then conduct an empirical study with formal models of medical systems to study the current approaches of abstract test generation for CPN. The study results show that CPN provides reliable tests quickly, dependent on the applied approach of abstract test generation. (Recommended by Manuel Nunez).