Embedding built-in tests in hot spots of an object-oriented framework

ABSTRACT

This paper describes a scheme of encapsulating test support code as built-in test (BIT) components and embedding them into the hot spots of an object-oriented framework so that defects caused by the modification and extension of the framework can be detected effectively and efficiently through testing. The test components embedded into a framework in this way increase the testability of the framework by making it easy to control and observe the process of framework testing. The proposed technique is illustrated using the facilities of C++. Our testing scheme, however, is equally applicable to other object-oriented languages. Using our scheme, test components can be designed and embedded into the hot spots of a framework without incurring changes or intervention to the framework code, and also can be attached and detached dynamically to/from the framework as needed at run-time.

REFERENCES

• 1: Mohamed E. Fayad , Douglas C. Schmidt , Ralph E. Johnson, Building application frameworks: object-oriented foundations of framework design, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, 1999
• 2: Mohamed E. Fayad , Douglas C. Schmidt , Ralph E. Johnson, Implementing application frameworks: object-oriented frameworks at work, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, 1999
• 3: Mohamed E. Fayad , Ralph E. Johnson, Domain-specific application frameworks: framework experience by industry, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, 1999
• 4: Erich Gamma , Richard Helm , Ralph Johnson , John Vlissides, Design patterns: elements of reusable object-oriented software, Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc., Boston, MA, 1995
• 5: Wim Codenie , Koen De Hondt , Patrick Steyaert , Arlette Vercammen, From custom applications to domain-specific frameworks, Communications of the ACM, v.40 n.10, p.70-77, Oct. 1997 [doi>10.1145/262793.262807]
• 6: David Garlan , Robert Allen , John Ockerbloom, Architectural mismatch or why it's hard to build systems out of existing parts, Proceedings of the 17th international conference on Software engineering, p.179-185, April 24-28, 1995, Seattle, Washington, United States [doi>10.1145/225014.225031]
• 7: David C. Kung , Jerry Gao , Chen-Ho Kung, Testing Object-Oriented Software, IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, 1998
• 8: Robert V. Binder, Testing object-oriented systems: models, patterns, and tools, Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Co., Inc., Boston, MA, 1999
• 9: Roong-Ko Doong , Phyllis G. Frankl, The ASTOOT approach to testing object-oriented programs, ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM), v.3 n.2, p.101-130, April 1994 [doi>10.1145/192218.192221]
• 10: Daniel Hoffman , Paul Strooper, ClassBench: a framework for automated class testing, Software—Practice & Experience, v.27 n.5, p.573-597, May 1997 [doi>10.1002/(SICI)1097-024X(199705)27:5<573::AID-SPE98>3.3.CO;2-V]
• 11: Mary Jean Harrold , John D. McGregor , Kevin J. Fitzpatrick, Incremental testing of object-oriented class structures, Proceedings of the 14th international conference on Software engineering, p.68-80, May 11-15, 1992, Melbourne, Australia [doi>10.1145/143062.143093]
• 12: Paul C. Jorgensen , Carl Erickson, Object-oriented integration testing, Communications of the ACM, v.37 n.9, p.30-38, Sept. 1994 [doi>10.1145/182987.182989]
• 13: Steve Sparks , Kevin Benner , Chris Faris, Managing Object-Oriented Framework Reuse, Computer, v.29 n.9, p.52-61, September 1996 [doi>10.1109/2.536784]
• 14: Fayad, M.E., Wang, Y. and King, G., "Built-In Test Reuse", In the Building Application Frameworks, Fayad, M.E., et al, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999, pp. 488-491.
• 15: Robert V. Binder, Design for testability in object-oriented systems, Communications of the ACM, v.37 n.9, p.87-101, Sept. 1994 [doi>10.1145/182987.184077]
• 16: Jeffrey Voas , Larry Morrel , Keith Miller, Predicting Where Faults Can Hide from Testing, IEEE Software, v.8 n.2, p.41-48, March 1991 [doi>10.1109/52.73748]
• 17: Jeffrey M. Voas , Keith W. Miller, Software Testability: The New Verification, IEEE Software, v.12 n.3, p.17-28, May 1995 [doi>10.1109/52.382180]
• 18: Bertrand Meyer, Applying "Design by Contract", Computer, v.25 n.10, p.40-51, October 1992 [doi>10.1109/2.161279]
• 19: David S. Rosenblum, A Practical Approach to Programming With Assertions, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, v.21 n.1, p.19-31, January 1995 [doi>10.1109/32.341844]
• 20: Voas, J. and Kassab, L., "Using Assertions to Make Untestable Software More Testable", Software Quality Professional Journal, 1(4), Sep. 1999.
• 21: Wolfgang Pree, Design patterns for object-oriented software development, ACM Press/Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., New York, NY, 1995
• 22: Han Albrecht Schmid, Systematic framework design by generalization, Communications of the ACM, v.40 n.10, p.48-51, Oct. 1997 [doi>10.1145/262793.262803]
• 23: Richard Helm , Ian M. Holland , Dipayan Gangopadhyay, Contracts: specifying behavioral compositions in object-oriented systems, Proceedings of the European conference on object-oriented programming on Object-oriented programming systems, languages, and applications, p.169-180, September 1990, Ottawa, Canada
• 24: Patrick Steyaert , Carine Lucas , Kim Mens , Theo D'Hondt, Reuse contracts: managing the evolution of reusable assets, Proceedings of the 11th ACM SIGPLAN conference on Object-oriented programming, systems, languages, and applications, p.268-285, October 06-10, 1996, San Jose, California, United States
• 25: David Harel , Amir Pnueli , Hagi Lachover , Amnon Naamad , Michal Politi , Rivi Sherman , Aharon Shtull-Trauring , Mark Trakhtenbrot, STATEMATE: A Working Environment for the Development of Complex Reactive Systems, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, v.16 n.4, p.403-414, April 1990 [doi>10.1109/32.54292]
• 26: The XUnit Home Page, http://www.xprogramming.com/software.htm
• 27: Gamma, E. and Beck, K. "JUnit A Cook's Tour", Java Report, May 1995.
• 28: Edwards, S. H., "A Framework for Practical Automated Black-Box Testing of Component-Based Software", Software Testing, Verification and Reliability, Vol. 11, 2001, pp. 97-111.

INDEX TERMS

Keywords:
built-in test (BIT), hook classes, object-oriented framework, testability