Lecture – 22

1
 Software Testing

A more appropriate definition is:

“Testing is the process of executing a program with

the intent of finding errors.”

2
 Software Testing
• Why should We Test ?
Although software testing is itself an expensive activity, yet
launching of software without testing may lead to cost
potentially much higher than that of testing, specially in systems
where human safety is involved.

In the software life cycle the earlier the errors are discovered
and removed, the lower is the cost of their removal.

3
 Software Testing

• What is Testing?
Many people understand many definitions of testing :

1. Testing is the process of demonstrating that errors are not present.

2. The purpose of testing is to show that a program performs its intended

functions correctly.
3. Testing is the process of establishing confidence that a program does what
it is supposed to do.
These definitions are incorrect.

4
 Software Testing

• Who should Do the Testing ?

o Testing requires the developers to find errors from their software.

o It is difficult for software developer to point out errors from own

creations.

o Many organizations have made a distinction between

development and testing phase by making different people
responsible for each phase.

5
 Software Testing
• What should We Test ?
We should test the program’s responses to every possible input. It means, we
should test for all valid and invalid inputs. Suppose a program requires two 8
bit integers as inputs. Total possible combinations are 28x28. If only one
second it required to execute one set of inputs, it may take 18 hours to test all
combinations. Practically, inputs are more than two and size is also more than
8 bits. We have also not considered invalid inputs where so many
combinations are possible. Hence, complete testing is just not possible,
although, we may wish to do so.

6
 Software Testing
Some Terminologies
 Error, Mistake, Bug, Fault and Failure
People make errors. A good synonym is mistake. This may be a syntax error
or misunderstanding of specifications. Sometimes, there are logical errors.

When developers make mistakes while coding, we call these mistakes “bugs”.

A fault is the representation of an error, where representation is the mode of

expression, such as narrative text, data flow diagrams, ER diagrams, source
code etc. Defect is a good synonym for fault.

A failure occurs when a fault executes. A particular fault may cause different
failures, depending on how it has been exercised.

7
 Software Testing
 Test, Test Case and Test Suite
Test and Test case terms are used interchangeably. In practice, both are same
and are treated as synonyms. Test case describes an input description and an
expected output description.
Test Case ID
Section-I Section-II
(Before Execution) (After Execution)
Purpose : Execution History:
Pre condition: (If any) Result:
Inputs: If fails, any possible reason (Optional);

Expected Outputs: Any other observation:

Post conditions: Any suggestion:
Written by: Run by:
Date: Date:

Fig. 2: Test case template

The set of test cases is called a test suite. Hence any combination
of test cases may generate a test suite.
8
 Software Testing

 Verification and Validation

Verification is the process of evaluating a system or component to determine

whether the products of a given development phase satisfy the conditions
imposed at the start of that phase.
Validation is the process of evaluating a system or component during or at the
end of development process to determine whether it satisfies the specified
requirements .
Testing= Verification+Validation

9
 Software Testing
 Alpha, Beta and Acceptance Testing
The term Acceptance Testing is used when the software is developed for a
specific customer. A series of tests are conducted to enable the customer to
validate all requirements. These tests are conducted by the end user /
customer and may range from adhoc tests to well planned systematic series of
tests.
The terms alpha and beta testing are used when the software is developed as a
product for anonymous customers.
Alpha Tests are conducted at the developer’s site by some potential customers.
These tests are conducted in a controlled environment. Alpha testing may be
started when formal testing process is near completion.
Beta Tests are conducted by the customers / end users at their sites. Unlike
alpha testing, developer is not present here. Beta testing is conducted in a real
environment that cannot be controlled by the developer.

10
 Software Testing

Structural Testing
A complementary approach to functional testing is called structural / white
box testing. It permits us to examine the internal structure of the program.

Path Testing
Path testing is the name given to a group of test techniques based on
judiciously selecting a set of test paths through the program. If the set of paths
is properly chosen, then it means that we have achieved some measure of test
thoroughness.
This type of testing involves:
1. generating a set of paths that will cover every branch in the program.
2. finding a set of test cases that will execute every path in the set of program
paths.

1
1
 Software Testing
Hence, our objective is to find all du-paths and then identity those du-paths
which are not dc-paths. The steps are given in Fig. 27. We may like to generate
specific test cases for du-paths that are not dc-paths.

Fig. 27 : Steps for data flow testing

12
 Software Testing
Levels of Testing
There are 3 levels of testing:
i. Unit Testing
ii. Integration Testing
iii. System Testing

13
 Software Testing

Unit Testing
There are number of reasons in support of unit testing than
testing the entire product.
1. The size of a single module is small enough that we can locate an error
fairly easily.

2. The module is small enough that we can attempt to test it in some

demonstrably exhaustive fashion.

3. Confusing interactions of multiple errors in widely different parts of the

software are eliminated.

14
 Software Testing

There are problems associated with testing a module in isolation. How do we

run a module without anything to call it, to be called by it or, possibly, to output
intermediate values obtained during execution? One approach is to construct an
appropriate driver routine to call if and, simple stubs to be called by it, and to
insert output statements in it.

Stubs serve to replace modules that are subordinate to (called by) the module
to be tested. A stub or dummy subprogram uses the subordinate module’s
interface, may do minimal data manipulation, prints verification of entry, and
returns.

This overhead code, called scaffolding represents effort that is import to

testing, but does not appear in the delivered product as shown in Fig. 29.

1
5
 Software Testing

Fig. 29 : Scaffolding required testing a program unit (module)

16
 Software Testing

Integration Testing

The purpose of unit testing is to determine that each independent module is

correctly implemented. This gives little chance to determine that the interface
between modules is also correct, and for this reason integration testing must be
performed. One specific target of integration testing is the interface: whether
parameters match on both sides as to type, permissible ranges, meaning and
utilization.

17
 Software Testing

Fig. 30 : Three different integration approaches

18
 Software Testing
System Testing
Of the three levels of testing, the system level is closet to everyday experiences. We test
many things; a used car before we buy it, an on-line cable network service before we
subscribe, and so on. A common pattern in these familiar forms is that we evaluate a
product in terms of our expectations; not with respect to a specification or a standard.
Consequently, goal is not to find faults, but to demonstrate performance. Because of this
we tend to approach system testing from a functional standpoint rather than from a
structural one. Since it is so intuitively familiar, system testing in practice tends to be
less formal than it might be, and is compounded by the reduced testing interval that
usually remains before a delivery deadline.

Petschenik gives some guidelines for choosing test cases

during system testing.

19
 Software Testing
During system testing, we should evaluate a number of attributes of the software
that are vital to the user and are listed in Fig. 31. These represent the operational
correctness of the product and may be part of the software specifications.

Usable Is the product convenient, clear, and predictable?

Secure Is access to sensitive data restricted to those with authorization?

Will the product work correctly in conjunction with existing data,

Compatible
software, and procedures?

Do adequate safeguards against failure and methods for recovery

Dependable
exist in the product?

Documented Are manuals complete, correct, and understandable?

Fig. 31 : Attributes of software to be tested during system

testing 20
 Software Testing
Validation Testing

o It refers to test the software as a complete product.

o This should be done after unit & integration testing.
o Alpha, beta & acceptance testing are nothing but the various
ways of involving customer during testing.

21
 Software Testing
Validation Testing

o IEEE has developed a standard (IEEE standard 1059-1993)

entitled “ IEEE guide for software verification and validation “
to provide specific guidance about planning and documenting
the tasks required by the standard so that the customer may
write an effective plan.
o Validation testing improves the quality of software product in
terms of functional capabilities and quality attributes.

22
 Software Testing

The Art of Debugging

The goal of testing is to identify errors (bugs) in the program. The process of
testing generates symptoms, and a program’s failure is a clear symptom of the
presence of an error. After getting a symptom, we begin to investigate the cause
and place of that error. After identification of place, we examine that portion to
identify the cause of the problem. This process is called debugging.

Debugging Techniques
Pressman explained few characteristics of bugs that provide some clues.
1. “The symptom and the cause may be geographically remote. That is, the
symptom may appear in one part of a program, while the cause may
actually be located in other part. Highly coupled program structures may
complicate this situation.
2. The symptom may disappear (temporarily) when another error is corrected.

23
 Software Testing

3. The symptom may actually be caused by non errors (e.g. round off
inaccuracies).
4. The symptom may be caused by a human error that is not easily traced.

5. The symptom may be a result of timing problems rather than processing

problems.
6. It may be difficult to accurately reproduce input conditions (e.g. a real time
application in which input ordering is indeterminate).

7. The symptom may be intermittent. This is particularly common in

embedded system that couple hardware with software inextricably.

8. The symptom may be due to causes that are distributed across a number of
tasks running on different processors”.

24
 Software Testing

Induction approach

 Locate the pertinent data

 Organize the data

 Devise a hypothesis

 Prove the hypothesis

25
 Software Testing

Fig. 32 : The inductive debugging process

26
 Software Testing

Deduction approach

 Enumerate the possible causes or hypotheses

 Use the data to eliminate possible causes

 Refine the remaining hypothesis

 Prove the remaining hypothesis

27
 Software Testing

Fig. 33 : The inductive debugging process

28
Lecture – 23

29
 Software Testing
Testing Tools
One way to improve the quality & quantity of testing is to make
the process as pleasant as possible for the tester. This means that
tools should be as concise, powerful & natural as possible.

The two broad categories of software testing tools are :

 Static
 Dynamic

30
 Software Testing

There are different types of tools available and some are listed below:

1. Static analyzers, which examine programs systematically and automatically.

2. Code inspectors, who inspect programs automatically to make sure they

adhere to minimum quality standards.

3. standards enforcers, which impose simple rules on the developer.

4. Coverage analysers, which measure the extent of coverage.

5. Output comparators, used to determine whether the output in a program is

appropriate or not.

31
 Software Testing

6. Test file/ data generators, used to set up test inputs.

7. Test harnesses, used to simplify test operations.

8. Test archiving systems, used to provide documentation about

programs.

32
Lecture – 24

33
 To discuss the distinctions between validation
testing and defect testing
 To describe the principles of system and
component testing
 To describe strategies for generating system
test cases
 To understand the essential characteristics of
tool used for test automation

34
 System testing
 Component testing
 Test case design
 Test automation

35
 Component testing
◦ Testing of individual program components;
◦ Usually the responsibility of the component developer
(except sometimes for critical systems);
◦ Tests are derived from the developer’s experience.
 System testing
◦ Testing of groups of components integrated to create a
system or sub-system;
◦ The responsibility of an independent testing team;
◦ Tests are based on a system specification.

36
37
 The goal of defect testing is to discover
defects in programs
 A successful defect test is a test which causes
a program to behave in an anomalous way
 Tests show the presence not the absence of
defects

38
 Validation testing
◦ To demonstrate to the developer and the system customer
that the software meets its requirements;
◦ A successful test shows that the system operates as
intended.
 Defect testing
◦ To discover faults or defects in the software where its
behaviour is incorrect or not in conformance with its
specification;
◦ A successful test is a test that makes the system perform
incorrectly and so exposes a defect in the system.

39
40
 Only exhaustive testing can show a program is free
from defects. However, exhaustive testing is
impossible,
 Testing policies define the approach to be used in
selecting system tests:
◦ All functions accessed through menus should be tested;
◦ Combinations of functions accessed through the same
menu should be tested;
◦ Where user input is required, all functions must be tested
with correct and incorrect input.

41
 Involves integrating components to create a
system or sub-system.
 May involve testing an increment to be
delivered to the customer.
 Two phases:
◦ Integration testing - the test team have access to
the system source code. The system is tested as
components are integrated.
◦ Release testing - the test team test the complete
system to be delivered as a black-box.

42
 Involves building a system from its
components and testing it for problems that
arise from component interactions.
 Top-down integration
◦ Develop the skeleton of the system and populate it
with components.
 Bottom-up integration
◦ Integrate infrastructure components then add
functional components.
 To simplify error localisation, systems should
be incrementally integrated.

43
 A T1

T1
A
T1 T2
A B
T2

T2 B T3

T3
B C
T3 T4
C
T4

D T5

Testsequence 1 Testsequence 2 Testsequence 3

44
 Architectural validation
◦ Top-down integration testing is better at discovering errors
in the system architecture.
 System demonstration
◦ Top-down integration testing allows a limited
demonstration at an early stage in the development.
 Test implementation
◦ Often easier with bottom-up integration testing.
 Test observation
◦ Problems with both approaches. Extra code may be
required to observe tests.

45
 The process of testing a release of a system
that will be distributed to customers.
 Primary goal is to increase the supplier’s
confidence that the system meets its
requirements.
 Release testing is usually black-box or
functional testing
◦ Based on the system specification only;
◦ Testers do not have knowledge of the system
implementation.

46
47
 Testing guidelines are hints for the testing
team to help them choose tests that will
reveal defects in the system
◦ Choose inputs that force the system to generate all
error messages;
◦ Design inputs that cause buffers to overflow;
◦ Repeat the same input or input series several times;
◦ Force invalid outputs to be generated;
◦ Force computation results to be too large or too
small.

48
A student in Scotland is studying A merican History and has been asked to write a paper
on ÔFrontier mentality in the American West from 1840 to 1880Õ.To do this, she need s to
find sources from a range o f libraries. She logs on to the LIBSYS system and uses the
search facility to discover if she can acce ss original documents from that time. She
discovers sources in various US university libraries and down loads copies of some of
these. However, for one document, she needs to have confirmation from her university
that she is a genu ine student and that use is for non-commercial purposes. The student
then uses the facility in LIBSYS that can request such permission and registers her
reques t. If granted, the document will be downloaded to the registered libraryÕs server
and printed for her. She receives a message f rom LIBSYS telling her that she will receive
an e-mail message when th e printed docu ment is available for collection.

49
1. Test the login mechanism using correct and incorrect logins to check
that valid users are accepted and invalid users are rejected.
2. Test the search facility using diff erent queries against known sources to
check that the search mechanism is actually finding documents.
3. Test the system presentation facility to check that information about
documents is displayed properly.
4. Test the mechanism to request permission for downloading.
5. Test the e-mail response indicating that the downloaded document is
available.

50
 Use cases can be a basis for deriving the tests
for a system. They help identify operations to
be tested and help design the required test
cases.
 From an associated sequence diagram, the
inputs and outputs to be created for the tests
can be identified.

51
52
 Part of release testing may involve testing the
emergent properties of a system, such as
performance and reliability.
 Performance tests usually involve planning a
series of tests where the load is steadily
increased until the system performance
becomes unacceptable.

53
 Exercises the system beyond its maximum design
load. Stressing the system often causes defects to
come to light.
 Stressing the system test failure behaviour..
Systems should not fail catastrophically. Stress
testing checks for unacceptable loss of service or
data.
 Stress testing is particularly relevant to distributed
systems that can exhibit severe degradation as a
network becomes overloaded.

54
 Component or unit testing is the process of
testing individual components in isolation.
 It is a defect testing process.
 Components may be:
◦ Individual functions or methods within an object;
◦ Object classes with several attributes and methods;
◦ Composite components with defined interfaces
used to access their functionality.

55
 Complete test coverage of a class involves
◦ Testing all operations associated with an object;
◦ Setting and interrogating all object attributes;
◦ Exercising the object in all possible states.
 Inheritance makes it more difficult to design
object class tests as the information to be
tested is not localised.

56
 Involves designing the test cases (inputs and
outputs) used to test the system.
 The goal of test case design is to create a set
of tests that are effective in validation and
defect testing.
 Design approaches:
◦ Requirements-based testing;
◦ Partition testing;
◦ Structural testing.

57
 A general principle of requirements
engineering is that requirements should be
testable.
 Requirements-based testing is a validation
testing technique where you consider each
requirement and derive a set of tests for that
requirement.

58
The user shall be able to search either all of the initial set of databases or select a
subset from it.
The system shall provide appropriate viewers for the user to read documents in the
document store.
Every order shall be allocated a unique identifier (ORDER_ID) that the user shall
be able to copy to the accountÕs permanent storage area.

59
 Initiate user search for searches for items that are known to
be present and known not to be present, where the set of
databases includes 1 database.
 Initiate user searches for items that are known to be present
and known not to be present, where the set of databases
includes 2 databases
 Initiate user searches for items that are known to be present
and known not to be present where the set of databases
includes more than 2 databas es.
 Select one database from the set of databas es and initiate
user searches for items that are known to be presen t and
known not to be present.
 Select more than on e database from the set of databases
and initiate searches for items that are known to be present
and known not to be present.

60
Lecture – 25

61
 Sometime called white-box testing.
 Derivation of test cases according to program
structure. Knowledge of the program is used
to identify additional test cases.
 Objective is to exercise all program
statements (not all path combinations).

62
63
 Pre-conditions satisfied, key element in array.
 Pre-conditions satisfied, key element not in
array.
 Pre-conditions unsatisfied, key element in array.
 Pre-conditions unsatisfied, key element not in
array.
 Input array has a single value.
 Input array has an even number of values.
 Input array has an odd number of values.

64
65
Input array (T) Key (Key) Output (Found, L)
17 17 true, 1
17 0 false, ??
17, 21, 23, 29 17 true, 1
9, 16, 18, 30, 31, 41, 45 45 true, 7
17, 18, 21, 23, 29, 38, 41 23 true, 4
17, 18, 21, 23, 29, 33, 38 21 true, 3
12, 18, 21, 23, 32 23 true, 4
21, 23, 29, 33, 38 25 false, ??

66
 The objective of path testing is to ensure that
the set of test cases is such that each path
through the program is executed at least
once.
 The starting point for path testing is a
program flow graph that shows nodes
representing program decisions and arcs
representing the flow of control.
 Statements with conditions are therefore
nodes in the flow graph.

67
68
 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14
 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 14
 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 5, …
 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 2, 11, 13, 5, …
 Test cases should be derived so that all of
these paths are executed
 A dynamic program analyser may be used to
check that paths have been executed

69
 Testing is an expensive process phase. Testing
workbenches provide a range of tools to reduce the
time required and total testing costs.
 Systems such as Junit support the automatic
execution of tests.
 Most testing workbenches are open systems
because testing needs are organisation-specific.
 They are sometimes difficult to integrate with
closed design and analysis workbenches.

70
71
 Scripts may be developed for user interface
simulators and patterns for test data
generators.
 Test outputs may have to be prepared
manually for comparison.
 Special-purpose file comparators may be
developed.

72
 Testing can show the presence of faults in a
system; it cannot prove there are no remaining
faults.
 Component developers are responsible for
component testing; system testing is the
responsibility of a separate team.
 Integration testing is testing increments of the
system; release testing involves testing a system to
be released to a customer.
 Use experience and guidelines to design test cases
in defect testing.

73
 Interface testing is designed to discover defects
in the interfaces of composite components.
 Equivalence partitioning is a way of discovering
test cases - all cases in a partition should
behave in the same way.
 Structural analysis relies on analysing a program
and deriving tests from this analysis.
 Test automation reduces testing costs by
supporting the test process with a range of
software tools.

74
Lecture – 26

75
 To introduce software verification and validation
and to discuss the distinction between them
 To describe the program inspection process and its
role in V & V
 To explain static analysis as a verification
technique
 To describe the Cleanroom software development
process

76
 Verification and validation planning
 Software inspections
 Automated static analysis
 Cleanroom software development

77
 Verification:
"Are we building the product right”.
 The software should conform to its
specification.
 Validation:
"Are we building the right product”.
 The software should do what the user really
requires.

78
 Is a whole life-cycle process - V & V must be
applied at each stage in the software process.
 Has two principal objectives
◦ The discovery of defects in a system;
◦ The assessment of whether or not the system is
useful and useable in an operational situation.

79
 Verification and validation should establish
confidence that the software is fit for
purpose.
 This does NOT mean completely free of
defects.
 Rather, it must be good enough for its
intended use and the type of use will
determine the degree of confidence that is
needed.

80
 Depends on system’s purpose, user
expectations and marketing environment
◦ Software function
 The level of confidence depends on how critical the
software is to an organisation.
◦ User expectations
 Users may have low expectations of certain kinds of
software.
◦ Marketing environment
 Getting a product to market early may be more
important than finding defects in the program.

81
 Software inspections. Concerned with analysis
of
the static system representation to discover
problems (static verification)
◦ May be supplement by tool-based document and code
analysis
 Software testing. Concerned with exercising
and
observing product behaviour (dynamic
verification)
◦ The system is executed with test data and its
operational behaviour is observed

82
83
 Can reveal the presence of errors NOT their
absence.
 The only validation technique for non-
functional requirements as the software has
to be executed to see how it behaves.
 Should be used in conjunction with static
verification to provide full V&V coverage.

84
 Defect testing
◦ Tests designed to discover system defects.
◦ A successful defect test is one which reveals the presence
of defects in a system.
◦ Covered in Chapter 23
 Validation testing
◦ Intended to show that the software meets its requirements.
◦ A successful test is one that shows that a requirements has
been properly implemented.

85
 Defect testing and debugging are distinct
processes.
 Verification and validation is concerned with
establishing the existence of defects in a program.
 Debugging is concerned with locating and
repairing these errors.
 Debugging involves formulating a hypothesis
about program behaviour then testing these
hypotheses to find the system error.

86
87
 Careful planning is required to get the most
out of testing and inspection processes.
 Planning should start early in the
development process.
 The plan should identify the balance between
static verification and testing.
 Test planning is about defining standards for
the testing process rather than describing
product tests.

88
89
 The testing process.
 Requirements traceability.
 Tested items.
 Testing schedule.
 Test recording procedures.
 Hardware and software requirements.
 Constraints.

90
The testing process
A description of the major phases of the testing process. These might be
as described earlier in this chapter.

Requirements traceability
Users are most interested in the system meeting its requirements and
testing should be planned so that all requirements are individually tested.

Tested items
The products of the software process that are to be tested should be
specified.

Testing schedule
An overall testing schedule and resource allocation for this schedule.
This, obv iously, is linked to the more general project development
schedule.

Test recording procedures

It is not enough simply to run tests. The results of the tests must be
systematically recorded. It must be possible to audit the testing process
to check that it been carried out correctly.

Hardware and software requirements

This section should set out software tools required and estimated
hardware utilisation.

Constraints
Constraints affecting the testing process such as staf f shortages should
be anticipated in this section.

91
Lecture – 27

92
 Software Maintenance

What is Software Maintenance?

Software Maintenance is a very broad activity that includes error corrections,
enhancements of capabilities, deletion of obsolete capabilities, and
optimization.

93
 Software Maintenance
Categories of Maintenance

 Corrective maintenance
This refer to modifications initiated by defects in the software.

 Adaptive maintenance
It includes modifying the software to match changes in the ever changing
environment.

 Perfective maintenance
It means improving processing efficiency or performance, or restructuring the
software to improve changeability. This may include enhancement of existing
system functionality, improvement in computational efficiency etc.
94
 Software Maintenance

 Other types of maintenance

There are long term effects of corrective, adaptive and perfective changes.
This leads to increase in the complexity of the software, which reflect
deteriorating structure. The work is required to be done to maintain it or to
reduce it, if possible. This work may be named as preventive maintenance.

95
 Software Maintenance
Corre
c tiv e
(2 1% Perfective
)
Adaptive
Preventive
Corrective

Prev
ent iv
e(4% ) Perf e
ct ive
(50%
)

Ada p
tiv e (2 5
%)

Fig. 1: Distribution of maintenance effort

96
 Software Maintenance
Problems During Maintenance
 Often the program is written by another person or group of persons.

 Often the program is changed by person who did not understand it

clearly.

 Program listings are not structured.

 High staff turnover.

 Information gap.

 Systems are not designed for change.

97
 Software Maintenance
Maintenance is Manageable
A common misconception about maintenance is that it is not manageable.
Report of survey conducted by Lientz & Swanson gives some interesting
observations:
1 Emergency debugging 12.4%
2 Routine debugging 9.3%
3 Data environment adaptation 17.3%
4 Changes in hardware and OS 6.2%
5 Enhancements for users 41.8%
6 Documentation Improvement 5.5%
7 Code efficiency improvement 4.0%
8 Others 3.5%

Table 1: Distribution of maintenance effort

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Kinds of maintenance requests

1 New reports 40.8%

2 Add data in existing reports 27.1%
3 Reformed reports 10%
4 Condense reports 5.6%
5 Consolidate reports 6.4%
6 Others 10.1%

Table 2: Kinds of maintenance requests

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Potential Solutions to Maintenance Problems

 Budget and effort reallocation

 Complete replacement of the system

 Maintenance of existing system

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The Maintenance Process

Fig. 2: The software

maintenance process

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 Program Understanding
The first phase consists of analyzing the program in order to understand.

 Generating Particular Maintenance Proposal

The second phase consists of generating a particular maintenance proposal to
accomplish the implementation of the maintenance objective.

 Ripple (flow) Effect

The third phase consists of accounting for all of the ripple effect as a
consequence of program modifications.

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 Modified Program Testing

The fourth phase consists of testing the modified program to ensure that the
modified program has at least the same reliability level as before.

 Maintainability
Each of these four phases and their associated software quality attributes are
critical to the maintenance process. All of these factors must be combined to
form maintainability.

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Regression Testing
Regression testing is the process of retesting the modified parts of the software
and ensuring that no new errors have been introduced into previously test
code.
“Regression testing tests both the modified code and other parts of the program
that may be affected by the program change. It serves many purposes :

 increase confidence in the correctness of the modified program

 locate errors in the modified program
 preserve the quality and reliability of software
 ensure the software’s continued operation

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 Development Testing Versus Regression Testing

Sr. Development testing Regression testing

No.

1. We create test suites and test plans We can make use of existing test suite and
test plans
2. We test all software components We retest affected components that have
been modified by modifications.
3. Budget gives time for testing Budget often does not give time for
regression testing.
4. We perform testing just once on a We perform regression testing many times
software product over the life of the software product.
5. Performed under the pressure of Performed in crisis situations, under greater
release date of the software time constraints.

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 Regression Test Selection
Regression testing is very expensive activity and consumes significant amount
of effort / cost. Many techniques are available to reduce this effort/ cost.

1. Reuse the whole test suite

2. Reuse the existing test suite, but to apply a regression test selection
technique to select an appropriate subset of the test suite to be run.

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Fragment A Fragment B
(modified form of A)
S1 y = (x - 1) * (x + 1) S1’ y = (x -1) * (x + 1)
S2 if (y = 0) S2’ if (y = 0)
S3 return (error) S3’ return (error)
S4 else S4’ else

1  1 
S5 return   S5’ return  
 y  y  3 

Fig. 8: code fragment A and B

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Test cases

Test number Input Execution History

t1 x=1 S1, S2, S3

t2 x = -1 S1, S2, S3

t3 x=2 S1, S2, S5

t4 x=0 S1, S2, S5

Fig. 9: Test cases for code fragment A of Fig. 8

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If we execute all test cases, we will detect this divide by zero fault. But we have
to minimize the test suite. From the fig. 9, it is clear that test cases t3 and t4
have the same execution history i.e. S1, S2, S5. If few test cases have the same
execution history; minimization methods select only one test case. Hence,
either t3 or t4 will be selected. If we select t4 then fine otherwise fault not found.

Minimization methods can omit some test cases that might expose fault in the
modified software and so, they are not safe.

A safe regression test selection technique is one that, under certain

assumptions, selects every test case from the original test suite that can expose
faults in the modified program.

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 Selective Retest Techniques
Selective retest techniques may be more economical than the “retest-all”
technique.
Selective retest techniques are broadly classified in three categories :
1. Coverage techniques : They are based on test coverage criteria. They
locate coverable program components that have been modified, and
select test cases that exercise these components.

2. Minimization techniques: They work like coverage techniques, except

that they select minimal sets of test cases.

3. Safe techniques: They do not focus on coverage criteria; instead they

select every test case that cause a modified program to produce different
output than its original version.
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Rothermal identified categories in which regression test selection techniques
can be compared and evaluated. These categories are:

Inclusiveness measures the extent to which a technique chooses test cases that
will cause the modified program to produce different output than the original
program, and thereby expose faults caused by modifications.
Precision measures the ability of a technique to avoid choosing test cases that
will not cause the modified program to produce different output than the
original program.
Efficiency measures the computational cost, and thus, practically, of a
technique.

Generality measures the ability of a technique to handle realistic and diverse

language constructs, arbitrarily complex modifications, and realistic testing
applications.
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Reverse Engineering
Reverse engineering is the process followed in order to find difficult, unknown
and hidden information about a software system.

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 Scope and Tasks
The areas there reverse engineering is applicable include (but not limited to):

1. Program comprehension
2. Redocumentation and/ or document generation
3. Recovery of design approach and design details at any level of
abstraction
4. Identifying reusable components
5. Identifying components that need restructuring
6. Recovering business rules, and
7. Understanding high level system description

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Reverse Engineering encompasses a wide array of tasks related to
understanding and modifying software system. This array of tasks
can be broken into a number of classes.
 Mapping between application and program domains

Problem/ application
domain

Mapping

Programming/
implement domain

Fig. 10: Mapping between application and domains

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 Mapping between concrete and abstract levels

 Rediscovering high level structures

 Finding missing links between program syntax and semantics

 To extract reusable component

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 Levels of Reverse Engineering

Reverse Engineers detect low level implementation constructs and replace

them with their high level counterparts.

The process eventually results in an incremental formation of an overall

architecture of the program.

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Fig. 11: Levels of abstraction

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Redocumentation
Redocumentation is the recreation of a semantically equivalent representation
within the same relative abstraction level.

Design recovery
Design recovery entails identifying and extracting meaningful higher level
abstractions beyond those obtained directly from examination of the source
code. This may be achieved from a combination of code, existing design
documentation, personal experience, and knowledge of the problem and
application domains.

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Software RE-Engineering
Software re-engineering is concerned with taking existing legacy systems and
re-implementing them to make them more maintainable.

The critical distinction between re-engineering and new software development

is the starting point for the development as shown in Fig.12.

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Existing
System
software system
specification

Understanding
Design and
and
implementation
transformation

New system Re-engineered

system

Fig. 12: Comparison of new software development

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The following suggestions may be useful for the modification of the legacy
code:
 Study code well before attempting changes
 Concentrate on overall control flow and not coding
 Heavily comment internal code
 Create Cross References
 Build Symbol tables
 Use own variables, constants and declarations to localize the effect
 Keep detailed maintenance document
 Use modern design techniques

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 Source Code Translation

1. Hardware platform update: The organization may wish to change
its standard hardware platform. Compilers for the original
language may not be available on the new platform.

2. Staff Skill Shortages: There may be lack of trained maintenance

staff for the original language. This is a particular problem where
programs were written in some non standard language that has
now gone out of general use.

3. Organizational policy changes: An organization may decide to

standardize on a particular language to minimize its support
software costs. Maintaining many versions of old compilers can be
very expensive.

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 Program Restructuring

1. Control flow driven restructuring: This involves the imposition of a

clear control structure within the source code and can be either
inter modular or intra modular in nature.

2. Efficiency driven restructuring: This involves restructuring a

function or algorithm to make it more efficient. A simple example is
the replacement of an IF-THEN-ELSE-IF-ELSE construct with a
CASE construct.

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Fig. 13: Restructuring a program

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3. Adaption driven restructuring: This involves changing the coding

style in order to adapt the program to a new programming
language or new operating environment, for instance changing an
imperative program in PASCAL into a functional program in LISP.

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Configuration Management
The process of software development and maintenance is controlled is called
configuration management. The configuration management is different in
development and maintenance phases of life cycle due to different
environments.

 Configuration Management Activities

The activities are divided into four broad categories.
1. The identification of the components and changes
2. The control of the way by which the changes are made
3. Auditing the changes
4. Status accounting recording and documenting all the activities
that have take place
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The following documents are required for these activities

 Project plan
 Software requirements specification document
 Software design description document
 Source code listing
 Test plans / procedures / test cases
 User manuals

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 Software Versions
Two types of versions namely revisions (replace) and variations (variety).

Version Control :

A version control tool is the first stage towards being able to manage multiple
versions. Once it is in place, a detailed record of every version of the software
must be kept. This comprises the

 Name of each source code component, including the variations and

revisions
 The versions of the various compilers and linkers used
 The name of the software staff who constructed the component
 The date and the time at which it was constructed

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 Change Control Process

Change control process comes into effect when the software and associated
documentation are delivered to configuration management change request
form (as shown in fig. 14), which should record the recommendations
regarding the change.

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Fig. 14: Change request form 13

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Documentation
Software documentation is the written record of the facts about a
software system recorded with the intent to convey purpose, content
and clarity.

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 User Documentation
S.No. Document Function
1. System Overview Provides general description of system’s functions.
2. Installation Guide Describes how to set up the system, customize it to
local hardware needs and configure it to particular
hardware and other software systems.

3. Beginner’s Guide Provides simple explanations of how to start using the

system.

4. Reference Guide Provides in depth description of each system facility

and how it can be used.
5. Enhancement Booklet Contains a summary of new features.
6. Quick reference card Serves as a factual lookup.
7. System administration Provides information on services such as net-working,
security and upgrading.

Table 5: User Documentation 13

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 System Documentation

It refers to those documentation containing all facets of system, including

analysis, specification, design, implementation, testing, security, error
diagnosis and recovery.

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 System Documentation
S.No. Document Function
1. System Rationale Describes the objectives of the entire system.
2. SRS Provides information on exact requirements of system
as agreed between user and developers.

3. Specification/ Design Provides description of:

(i) How system requirements are implemented.
(ii) How the system is decomposed into a set of
interacting program units.
(iii) The function of each program unit.
4. Implementation Provides description of:
(i) How the detailed system design is expressed in
some formal programming language.
(ii) Program actions in the form of intra program
comments.

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S.No. Document Function

5. System Test Plan Provides description of how program units are tested
individually and how the whole system is tested after
integration.

6. Acceptance Test Plan Describes the tests that the system must pass before
users accept it.

7. Data Dictionaries Contains description of all terms that relate to the

software system in question.

Table 6: System Documentation

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