Foundations of Software Testing

Chapter 6: Test Adequacy Measurement and Enhancement:

Control and Data flow

Aditya P. Mathur
Purdue University

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Software Testing book by Aditya
Mathur. Please use the slides but do not
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Last update: September 3, 2007

Learning Objectives

What is test adequacy? What is test enhancement? How to measure

test adequacy and use it to enhance tests?

Control flow based test adequacy -- statement, decision, condition,

multiple condition, LCSAJ, and MC/DC coverage

Data flow coverage

The subsumes relation amongst coverage criteria

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Test adequacy

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What is adequacy?

Given a program P written to meet a set of functional

requirements R = {R1, R2, , Rn}.
Let T contain k tests for determining whether or not P
meets all requirements in R.

Assume that P produces correct behavior for all tests in T.

We now ask: Is T good enough?
or: Has P been tested thoroughly? or: Is T adequate?
In software testing, the terms thorough, good enough,
and adequate have the same meaning.
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Measurement of adequacy

Adequacy is measured for a given test set and a given

criterion.

A test set is considered adequate wrt criterion C when it

satisfies C.

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Example
Program sumProduct must meet the following requirements:
R1

Input two integers, x and y, from standard input.

R2.1

Print to standard output the sum of x and y if x<y.

R2.2

Print to standard output the product of x and y if x y.

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Example (contd.)
Suppose now that the test adequacy criterion C is specified as:
C : A test set T for program (P, R) is considered adequate if,
for each r in R there is a test case in T that tests the
correctness of P with respect to r.
T={t: <x=2, y=3> is inadequate with respect to C for
program sumProduct.
The lone test case t in T tests R1 and R2.1, but not R2.2.
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Black-box and white-box criteria

Given an adequacy criterion C, we derive a finite set Ce
known as the coverage domain.
A criterion C is a white-box test adequacy criterion if the
corresponding Ce depends solely on the program P under test.
A criterion C is a black-box test adequacy criterion if the
corresponding Ce depends solely on the requirements R for
the program P under test.

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Coverage
Measuring adequacy of T:
T covers Ce if, for each e' in Ce, there is a test case in T that
tests e'. T is adequate wrt C if it covers all elements i.
T is inadequate with respect to C if it covers k<n elements of Ce.
k/n is the coverage of T wrt C.

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Example
Consider criterion:
A test T for (P, R) is adequate if , for each requirement r in R,
there is at least one test case in T that tests the correctness of P
with respect to r.
The coverage domain is Ce={R1, R2.1, R2.2}.
T covers R1 and R2.1 but not R2.2.
Hence, T is inadequate with respect to C.
The coverage of T wrt C is 2/3=0.66.

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Another Example
Consider the following criterion:
A test T for program (P, R) is considered adequate if each path
in P is traversed at least once.
Assume that P has exactly two paths, p1 and p2, corresponding
to condition x<y and condition x y, respectively.
For the given adequacy criterion C we obtain the coverage
domain Ce to be the set {p1, p2}.

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Another Example (contd.)

To measure the adequacy of T of sumProduct against C,
we execute P against each test case in T .
As T contains only one test for which x<y, only path p1 is
executed.
Thus, the coverage of T wrt C is 0.5. T is not adequate with
respect to C.
We can also say that p1 is tested and p2 is not tested.
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Code-based coverage domain

In the previous example, we assumed that P contains two paths.
This assumption is based on knowledge of the requirements.
However, when the coverage domain must contain elements from
the code, these elements must be derived by analyzing the code.
Errors in the program and incomplete/incorrect requirements can
cause the coverage domain to be different from the expected.

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Example
sumProduct1

This program is incorrect as per the

requirements of sumProduct.

There is only one path, p1, which traverses all the statements.
Using the path-based coverage criterion C, Ce={ p1}.
T={t: <x=2, y=3>}is adequate w.r.t. C but does not reveal the
error.

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Example (contd.)
sumProduct2

This program is correct as per the

requirements of sumProduct.
It has two paths, p1 and p2.
Ce={ p1, p2}.
T={t: <x=2, y=3>} is inadequate w.r.t. the
path-based coverage criterion C.

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Lesson
An adequate test set might not reveal even the most obvious error
in a program.
This does not diminish in any way the need for the measurement
of test adequacy, as increasing coverage might reveal an error!

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Test enhancement

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Test Enhancement
While a test set adequate wrt some criterion does not guarantee an
error-free program, an inadequate test set often implies deficiency.
Identifying deficiency helps in enhancing inadequate test set.
Enhancement in is likely to test the program in new ways
testing untested portions or testing the features in a sequence
different from the one used previously.
Testing the program differently than before may discover any
uncovered errors.

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Test Enhancement: Example

For sumProduct2, to make T adequate wrt the path coverage
criterion we need to add a test that covers p2 --{<x=3>, y=1>}.
Adding this test to T, we obtain the expanded test set T:
T={t1: <x=3, y=4>, t2: <x=3, y=1>}
Executing sum-product-2 against the two tests in T causes
paths p1 and p2 to be traversed.
Thus, T' is adequate with respect to the path coverage criterion.

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Test Enhancement: Procedure

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Test Enhancement: Example

Consider a program intended to

compute xy given integers x and y.
For y<0 the program skips the
computation and outputs an error
message.

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Test Enhancement: Example (contd.)

Suppose that test T is considered adequate if it tests the

exponentiation program for at least one zero and one non-zero
value of each of the two inputs x and y.
Ce can be determined using C alone no need to inspect
program.
Ce={x=0, y=0, x0, y 0}.
Again, we can derive an adequate test set for the program by
examining Ce alone.
T={t1: <x=0, y=1>, t2: <x=1, y=0>}.
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Test Enhancement: Example: Path coverage

Criterion C of the previous example is a black-box coverage

criterion as it does not require an examination of the program.
Let us now consider the path coverage criterion defined in an
earlier example.
The exponentiation program has an indeterminate number of
paths due to the while loop.
The number of paths depends on the value of y.
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Example: Path Coverage (contd.)

Given that y is any non-negative integer, the number of paths

can be arbitrarily large.
Thus for the path coverage criterion, we cannot determine the
coverage domain.
The usual approach in such cases is to simplify C and
reformulate it as follows: A test T is considered adequate if it
tests all paths. In case the program contains a loop, then it is
adequate to traverse the loop body zero times and once.
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Example: Path coverage (contd.)

f
t

The modified path coverage criterion leads

to Ce={p1, p2, p3}.

f
t

product*x

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Example: Path coverage (contd.)

f
t
y

f
t

product*x

We measure the adequacy of T with

respect to C'.
As T does not contain any test with y<0,
p3 remains uncovered.
Thus, the coverage of T with respect to C'
is 2/3=0.66.

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Example: Path coverage (contd.)

f
t
y

f
t

product*x

Any test with y<0 causes p3 to be traversed.

Lets use t:<x=5, y=-1>.
Test t covers path p3 and P behaves correctly.
We add t to T.
The loop in the enhancement terminates,
as we have covered all feasible elements of Ce.
The enhanced test set is:
T={<x=0, y=1>, <x=1, y=0>, <x=5, y=-1>}

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Infeasibility and test adequacy

An element of the coverage domain is infeasible if it cannot be

covered by any test in the input domain of the program under test.
There is no algorithm that can analyze a given program and
determine if a given element in the coverage domain is infeasible.
Usually the tester determines whether or not an element of the
coverage domain is infeasible.

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Demonstrating feasibility
Feasibility can be demonstrated by executing the program on a
test case that shows that the element under consideration is
covered.
Infeasibility cannot be demonstrated by execution on a finite
number of test cases. Determining infeasibility is difficult.
An attempt to enhance a test set by executing tests aimed at
covering an infeasible element will fail.

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Infeasible path: Example

This program inputs two

integers x and y and
computes z.

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Example: Flow graph and paths

9]

p1 is infeasible because at node 5, y0 is

false and control can never reach node 6.
Any test set adequate wrt path coverage
criterion will only cover p2 and p3.

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Adequacy and infeasibility

A test is considered adequate when all feasible elements in the

domain have been covered.
While programmers are not concerned with infeasible elements,
testers attempting to obtain code coverage are.
Prior to test enhancement, a tester usually does not know which
elements of a coverage domain are infeasible.
Only when attempting to find a test case that covers an element,
one might realize the infeasibility of that element.
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Error detection and test enhancement

Goal of test enhancement: to add test cases that test the untested
parts of a program or exercise the program using uncovered
portions of the input domain.
The more complex the set of requirements, the more likely it is
that a test set designed using requirements is inadequate with
respect to even the simplest of various test adequacy criteria.

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Example
A program to meet the following requirements is to be developed.

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Example (contd.)

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Example (contd.)

Consider this
program written to
meet the above
requirements.

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Example (contd.)

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Example (contd.)

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Example (contd.)
Consider the following to test if program meets its requirements.
T={<request=1, x=2, y=3>, <request=2, x=4>, <request=3>}
For the first requests, the program correctly outputs 8 and 24.
The program exits when executed against the last request.
This program behavior is correct, hence one might conclude
that the program is correct.
But this conclusion is incorrect.

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Example (contd.)
Let us now evaluate T against the path coverage criterion.
The coverage domain consists of all paths that traverse each
of the three loops zero and once in the same or different
executions of the program.
We consider one uncovered path that exposes error.

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Example (contd.)
Consider the path p that: begins execution at line 1; reaches the
outermost while at line 10; then the first if at line 12; followed by
the statements that compute the factorial starting at line 20; and
then the code to compute the exponential starting at line 13.
p is traversed when the program is launched and the first
request is to compute the factorial of a number, followed by a
request to compute the exponential.
The sequence of requests in T does not exercise p.
T is inadequate with respect to the path coverage criterion.
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Example (contd.)
The following test covers p:
T={<request=2, x=4>;<request=1, x=2, y=3>;<request=3>}
When the values in T are input, the program correctly outputs 24 as
the factorial of 4, but incorrectly outputs 192 as the value of 23 .
This happens because T traverses the path which makes the
computation of the exponentiation begin without initializing
product.
In fact the code at line 14 begins with the value of product set to 24.

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Example (contd.)

In an effort to increase path coverage we built T.

T did cover a path that was not covered earlier and revealed an
error in the program.
This example has illustrated a benefit of test enhancement based
on code coverage.

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Multiple executions

In the previous example, we built two test sets, T and T.

Both T and T contained three tests, one for each value of
variable request.
Is T (or T) a single test or a sequence of three tests?
T={<request=2, x=4>;<request=1, x=2, y=3>;<request=3>}
We assumed that all three tests were input in a sequence during a
single execution. Hence, T (or T) is one test case.

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Statement and Block Coverage

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Statement Coverage

The statement coverage of T wrt program P is defined as

Sc/(Se-Si), where
Sc is the number of statements covered;
Si is the number of unreachable statements; and
Se is the total number of statements in the program.
T is considered adequate wrt the statement coverage criterion
if the statement coverage of T is 1.

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Block Coverage
The block coverage of T wrt Program P is
Bc/(Be -Bi), where
Bc is the number of blocks covered;
Bi is the number of unreachable blocks; and
Be is the total number of blocks in the program.
T is considered adequate with respect to the block coverage
criterion if the block coverage of T is 1.

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Example: Statement Coverage

Coverage domain: Se={2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7b, 9, 10}
Let T1={t1:<x=-1, y=-1>, t2:<x=1, y=1>}

(b)

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Statements covered:
t1: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10
t2: 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10.
Sc=6, Si=1, Se=7. The statement coverage
for T is 6/(7-1)=1.
Hence, we conclude that T1 is adequate for P
with respect to the statement coverage
criterion. Note: 7b is unreachable.
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Example: Block Coverage

Coverage domain:

Be={1, 2, 3, 4, 5}

Blocks covered:
t1: Blocks 1, 2, 5
t2, t3: same coverage as of t1.

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Be=5, Bc=3, Bi=1.

Block coverage for T2= 3/(5-1)=0.75.
Hence, T2 is not adequate for P wrt the
block coverage criterion.
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Example: Block Coverage (contd.)

T1 is adequate wrt block coverage

criterion.
Also, if test t2 in T1 is added to T2, we
obtain a test set adequate with respect to
the block coverage criterion for the
program under consideration.

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Condition and Decision Coverage

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Simple and Compound Conditions

A simple condition does not use any boolean operators except for
the not operator.
It is made up of variables and at most one relational operator from
the set {<, >, , ==, }.
A compound condition is made up of two or more simple
conditions joined by one or more boolean operators.

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Conditions as Decisions
Conditions serve as a decision in context of if, while, and switch
statements.

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Outcomes of a Decision

When the condition corresponding to a decision to take one or the

other path is taken, a decision can have three possible outcomes:
true, false, and undefined.
In some cases the evaluation of a condition might fail in which
case the corresponding decision outcome is undefined.

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Undefined Condition

The condition inside the if

statement at line 6 will
remain undefined because
the loop at lines 2-4 will
never terminate.
Thus the decision at line 6
evaluates to undefined.

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Decision Coverage
A decision is considered covered if all outcomes of the decision
have been taken.
For example, the expression in an if or a while statement has
evaluated to true in some execution of the program under test and
to false in the same or another execution.

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Decision Coverage: switch statement

A decision implied by the switch statement is considered covered if,

during one or more executions of the program under test, the flow of
control has been diverted to all possible destinations.
Covering a decision within a program might reveal an error that is
not revealed by covering all statements and all blocks.

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Decision Coverage: Example

This program inputs an integer x and,
if necessary, transforms it into a
positive value before invoking foo-1
to compute the output z.
The program has an error: it should
compute z using foo-2 when x0.

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Decision Coverage: Example (contd.)

Consider the test set T={t1:<x=-5>}.
It is adequate with respect to
statement and block coverage criteria,
but does not reveal the error.
Another test set T'={t1:<x=-5>, t2:<x=3>}
does reveal the error.
It covers the decision whereas T does not.

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Decision Coverage: Computation

The decision coverage of T for P is
Dc/(De -Di), where
Dc is the number of decisions covered;
Di is the number of infeasible decisions; and
De is the total number of decisions in the program.
T is considered adequate with respect to the decisions coverage
criterion if the decision coverage of T wrt P is 1.

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Decision Coverage

The domain of decision coverage consists of all decisions in the

program under test.
Note that each if and each while contribute to one decision
whereas a switch contribute to more than one.

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Condition Coverage

A decision can be composed of a simple condition such as x<0, or

of a more complex condition, such as ((x<0 AND y<0 ) OR (pq )).
AND, OR, XOR are the logical operators that connect two or
more simple conditions to form a compound condition.
A simple condition is considered covered if it evaluates to true
and false in one or more executions of the program in which it
occurs.
A compound condition is considered covered if each simple
condition it contains is also covered.
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Decision and Condition Coverage

Decision coverage is concerned with the coverage of decisions

regardless of whether or not a decision corresponds to a simple or
a compound condition. Thus, in the statement

there is only one decision that leads control to line 2 if the

compound condition inside the if evaluates to true.
However, a compound condition might evaluate to true or false
in one of several ways.
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Decision and condition coverage (contd)

The condition at line 1 evaluates to false when x0 regardless

of the value of y. Another condition, such as x<0 OR y<0,
evaluates to true regardless of the value of y, when x<0.
With this evaluation characteristic in view, compilers often generate
code that uses short circuit evaluation of compound conditions.

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Decision and Condition coverage (contd)

Here is a possible translation:

We now see two decisions, one corresponding to each simple

condition in the if statement.

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Condition Coverage
The condition coverage of T wrt P is
Cc/(Ce -Ci), where
Cc is the number of simple conditions covered;
Ci is the number of infeasible simple conditions; and
Ce is the number of simple conditions in the program.
T is considered adequate wrt the condition coverage criterion if the
condition coverage of T wrt P is 1.

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Condition Coverage: alternate formula

An alternate formula where each simple condition contributes 2, 1,
or 0 to Cc depending on whether it is covered, partially covered, or
not covered, respectively, is:

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Condition Coverage: Example

Partial specifications for computing z:

Error
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Condition Coverage: Example (contd.)

Consider the test set:
+2
T and T

T and F

T is adequate wrt the statement, block, and

decision coverage criteria and the program
behaves correctly for t1 and t2.
Cc=1, Ce=2, Ci=0.
Hence, the condition coverage for T is 0.5.

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Condition Coverage: Example (contd.)

Add the following test case to T:
t3: <x=3, y=4> F and F
The enhanced test set T is adequate
wrt the condition coverage criterion
and can possibly reveal an error.
Under what conditions will a possible
error at line 7 be revealed by t3?
foo2(3,4) != foo1(3,4)
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Condition/Decision Coverage
When a decision is composed of a compound condition, decision
coverage does not imply that each simple condition within a
compound condition has taken both values true and false.
Condition coverage ensures that each component simple condition
within a condition has taken both values true and false.
However, condition coverage does not require each decision to
have taken both outcomes.
Condition/Decision coverage, also known as branch condition
coverage, requires coverage of conditions and decisions.
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Condition/Decision Coverage: Example

T or F

F or F

T1={t1:<x=-3, y=2>, t2:<x=4, y=2>}

T2={t1:<x=-3, y=2>, t2:<x=4, y =-2>}
T or F

F or T

T1 is adequate wrt decision coverage but

not condition coverage.
T2 is adequate wrt condition coverage
but not decision coverage.

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Condition/Decision Coverage: Definition

The condition/decision coverage of T wrt P is
(Cc+Dc)/((Ce -Ci) +(De-Di)), where
Cc is the number of simple conditions covered;
Dc is the number of decisions covered;
Ce and De are the numbers of simple conditions and
decisions respectively; and
Ci and Di are the numbers of infeasible simple conditions
and decisions, respectively.
T is considered adequate wrt condition/decision coverage criterion
if the condition/decision coverage of T wrt P is 1.
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Condition/Decision Coverage: Example

The following test set is adequate with
respect to the condition/decision
coverage criterion.
T or T
F or F

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Multiple Condition Coverage

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Multiple Condition Coverage

Consider a compound condition with two or more simple conditions.
Using condition coverage on some compound condition C implies
that each simple condition within C has been evaluated to true and
false.
However, this does not imply that all combinations of the values of
the individual simple conditions in C have been exercised.

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Multiple Condition Coverage: Example

Consider D=(A<B) OR (A>C) composed of two simple conditions
A< B and A> C --- there are four possible combinations of the
outcomes of these two simple.
T or T
F or T

Does T cover all four combinations?

No
Does T cover all four combinations?
Yes
1

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T or T
F or T
T or F
F or F
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Multiple Condition Coverage: Definition

Suppose that the program under test contains a total of n decisions
and that each decision contains k1, k2, , kn simple conditions.
Decision i will have a total of 2ki combinations.
The total number of combinations to be covered is
n

ki

i1

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Multiple Condition Coverage: Definition (contd.)

The multiple condition coverage of T wrt P is
Cc/(Ce -Ci), where
Cc is the number of combinations covered;
Ci is the number of infeasible simple combinations; and
Ce is the total number of combinations in the program.
T is considered adequate wrt the multiple condition coverage
criterion if the condition coverage of T wrt P is 1.

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Multiple Condition Coverage: Example

Consider the following program with specifications in the table.

Error! the computation of S for line 3 in the table has been left out.

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Multiple Condition Coverage: Example (contd.)

T covers all simple conditions but not decisions.
Does it reveal the error? No.
T and T -> f1

T and T -> f4
t1: T T; T F; F F
t2: F F; F T; T T

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Multiple Condition Coverage: Example (contd.)

Adding t3 gives Tthat covers all decisions.

Does it reveal the error? No.
f1
f4
f2

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Multiple Condition Coverage: Example (contd.)

Adding t4 to Tcovers all combinations.

Does it reveal the error? Yes.
f1
f4
f2
t4 : < A = 2, B = 1, C = 1 >
f3 should have been executed
But is not. If this effect is visible
in the output, error is revealed.
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LCSAJ coverage

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Linear Code Sequence and Jump (LCSAJ)

Execution of sequential programs that contain conditions proceeds in
pairs consisting of: a sequence of statements executed one after the
other and its termination by a jump to the next such pair.
A Linear Code Sequence and Jump is a program unit composed of
a textual code sequence that terminates in a jump to the beginning
of another code sequence and jump.
An LCSAJ is represented as a triple (X, Y, Z) where X and Y are,
respectively, the locations of the first and the last statements and Z
is the location to which the statement at Y jumps.
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Linear Code Sequence and Jump (LCSAJ)

Consider this program.

The last statement in an LCSAJ (X, Y, Z) is a

jump and Z may be program exit.
When control arrives at statement X, follows
through to statement Y, and then jumps to
statement Z, we say that the LCSAJ (X, Y, Z)
is traversed or covered or exercised.
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LCSAJ coverage: Example 1

t2 covers (1,4,7) and (7, 8, exit).

t1 covers (1, 6, exit).
T covers all three LCSAJs.

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LCSAJ coverage: Example 2

LCSAJs:
(1,10,7)
(7,10,7)
(1,7,11)
(11,12,exit)
(7,7,11)
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LCSAJ coverage: Example 2 (contd.)

This set covers all LCSAJs.

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LCSAJ Coverage: Definition

The LCSAJ coverage of a test set T wrt P is:

T is considered adequate wrt the LCSAJ coverage criterion if the

LCSAJ coverage of T wrt P is 1.

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MC/DC coverage

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Modified Condition/Decision (MC/DC) Coverage

Obtaining multiple condition coverage might become expensive
when there are many embedded simple conditions.
If a compound condition C contains n simple conditions, the
maximum number of tests required to cover C is 2n .

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Compound conditions and MC/DC

MC/DC coverage requires that every compound condition in a

program must be tested by demonstrating that each simple condition
within the compound condition has an independent effect on its
outcome.
Thus, MC/DC coverage is a weaker criterion than the multiple
condition coverage criterion.

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MC/DC coverage: Simple conditions

false

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t5

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MC/DC coverage: Generating tests for

compound conditions
If C=C1 AND C2 AND C3, create a table with five columns and
four rows. Label the columns as Test, C1, C2, C3, and C, from
left to right. An optional column Comments may be added.
The column labeled Test contains rows labeled by test case
numbers t1 through t4 . The remaining entries are empty.

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MC/DC coverage: Generating tests for

compound conditions (contd.)
Copy all entries in columns C1, C2, and C from the table for
simple conditions into columns C2, C3, and C of the empty table.

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MC/DC coverage: Generating tests for

compound conditions (contd.)
Fill the first three rows in the column marked C1 with true and the
last row with false.

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MC/DC coverage: Generating tests for

compound conditions (contd.)
Fill the last row under columns labeled C2, C3, and C with
true, true, and false, respectively.

We now have a table containing MC/DC adequate tests for

C=(C1 AND C2 AND C3) derived from tests for C=(C1 AND C2) .
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MC/DC coverage: Generating tests for

compound conditions (contd.)
The procedure illustrated above can be extended to derive tests
for any compound condition using tests for a simpler compound
condition.

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MC/DC coverage: Definition

A test set T for program P written to meet requirements R is
considered adequate with respect to the MC/DC coverage criterion
if, upon the execution of P on each test in T, the following
requirements are met:

Each block in P has been covered.

Each simple condition in P has taken both true and false values.
Each decision in P has taken all possible outcomes.
Each simple condition within a compound condition C in P has
been shown to independently affect the outcome of C.
This is the MC part of the coverage we discussed.
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MC/DC coverage: Analysis

The first three requirements above correspond to block, condition,
and decision coverage, respectively.
The fourth requirement corresponds to MC coverage.
Thus, the MC/DC coverage criterion is a mix of four coverage
criteria based on the flow of control.
With regard to the second requirement, it should be noted that
conditions that are not part of a decision, such as the one in
statement A= (p<q) OR (x>y), are also included in the set of
conditions to be covered.
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MC/DC coverage: Analysis (contd.)

With regard to the fourth requirement, a condition such as
(A AND B) OR (C AND A)
poses a problem. It is not possible to keep the first occurrence of A
fixed while varying the value of its second occurrence.
The first occurrence of A is coupled to its second occurrence.
In such cases, an adequate test set only has to demonstrate the
independent effect of any one occurrence of the coupled condition

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MC/DC coverage: Adequacy

Let C1, C2, .., CN be the conditions in P,
let ni be the number of simple conditions in Ci,
Let ei be the number of simple conditions shown to have
independent affect on the outcome of Ci, and
Let fi be the number of infeasible simple conditions in Ci .
The MC coverage of T for program P subject to requirements R,
denoted by MCc, is:
ni

Test set T is considered adequate with respect to the MC coverage

if MCc = 1.
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MC/DC coverage: Example

Consider the following
requirements:

R1.1: Invoke fire-1 when

(x<y) AND (z * z > y) AND (prev=``East").
R1.2: Invoke fire-2 when
(x<y) AND (z * z y) OR (current=``South").
R1.3: Invoke fire-3 when none of the two conditions above holds.
R2: The invocation described above must continue until an input
boolean variable becomes true.
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MC/DC coverage: Example (contd.)

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MC/DC coverage: Example (contd.)

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MC/DC coverage: Example (contd.)

Verify that the following set T1 of four tests, executed in the given
order, is adequate with respect to statement, block, and decision
coverage criteria, but not with respect to the condition coverage
criterion.

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MC/DC coverage: Example (contd.)

Verify that the following set T2, obtained by adding t5 to T1, is
adequate with respect to the condition coverage but not with
respect to the multiple condition coverage criterion.
Note that sequencing of tests is important in this case!

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MC/DC coverage: Example (contd.)

Verify that the following set T3, obtained by adding t6, t7, t8,
and t9 to T2 is adequate with respect to MC/DC coverage
criterion.
Note again that sequencing of tests is important in this case
(especially for t1 and t7)!

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MC/DC adequacy and error detection

We consider the following three types of errors.
Missing condition: One or more simple conditions is missing from a compound
condition. For example, the correct condition should be (x<y AND done) but the
condition coded is (done).
Incorrect Boolean operator: One or more boolean operators is incorrect. For
example, the correct condition is (x<y AND done) but it has been coded as
(x<y OR done).
Mixed: One or more simple conditions are missing and one or more boolean
operators are incorrect. For example, the correct condition should be
(x<y AND z*x y AND d=``South") but it been coded as (x<y OR z*x y).
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MC/DC adequacy and error detection: Example

Suppose that condition C=C1 AND C2 AND C3 has been coded as
C'=C1 AND C2. Four tests that form an MC/DC adequate set are in
the following table. The following set of four tests is MC/DC
adequate but does not reveal the error.

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MC/DC and condition coverage

Several examples in the book show that satisfying the MC/DC

adequacy criteria does not necessarily imply that errors made while
coding conditions will be revealed.
However, the examples do favor MC/DC over condition coverage.
The examples also show that an MC/DC adequate test will
likely reveal more errors than a decision or condition-coverage
adequate test.

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MC/DC and short circuit evaluation

Consider C=C1 AND C2.

The outcome of the above condition does not depend on C2 when
C1 is false. When using short-circuit evaluation, condition C2 is
not evaluated if C1 evaluates to false.
Thus the combination C1=false and C2=true, or the combination
C1=false and C2=false may be infeasible if the programming
language allows or requires, as in C, short circuit evaluation.

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MC/DC and decision dependence

Dependence of one decision on another might also lead to an
infeasible combination.
Consider, for example, the following sequence of statements.

Infeasible condition A<5

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Infeasibility and reachability

Note that infeasibility is different from reachability.
A decision might be reachable but not feasible and vice versa.
In the sequence above, both decisions are reachable but the second
decision is not feasible. Consider the following sequence.
In this case the second decision is
not reachable due an error at line 3.
It may, however, be feasible.

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Test trace-back
When enhancing a test set to satisfy a given coverage criterion, it is desirable to
ask the following question: What portions of the requirements are tested when
the program under test is executed against the newly added test case? The task
of relating the new test case to the requirements is known as test trace-back.
Trace-back assists us in determining whether the new test case is redundant.

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Data flow coverage

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Basic concepts
We will now examine some test adequacy criteria based on the
flow of data in a program. This is in contrast to criteria based on
flow of control that we have examined so far.
Test adequacy criteria based on the flow of data are useful in
improving tests that are adequate with respect to control-flow
based criteria. Let us look at an example.

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Example: Test enhancement using data flow

Here is an MC/DC adequate test set
that does not reveal the error.

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Example (contd.)
Neither of the two tests force the use of z
7, at line 9. To do so one
defined on line 6,
requires a test that causes conditions at
lines 5 and 8 to be true.

An MC/DC adequate test does not

force the execution of this path, hence
the divide by zero error is not revealed.
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Example (contd.)
Verify that the following test set covers all def-use pairs of z
and reveals the error.

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Definitions and uses

A program written in a procedural language, such as C or Java,
contains variables. Variables are defined by assigning values to
them and are used in expressions.
Statement x=y+z; defines variable x and uses variables y and z.
Declaration int x, y, A[10]; defines three variables.
Statement scanf(``%d %d", &x, &y); defines variables x and y.
Statement printf(``Output: %d \n", x+y); uses variables x and y.
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Definitions and uses (contd.)

A parameter x passed as call-by-value to a function, is
considered as a use of, or a reference to, x.
A parameter x passed as call-by-reference serves as a definition
and use of x

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Definitions and uses: Pointers

Consider the following sequence of statements that use pointers.

The first of the above statements defines a pointer variable z.

The second defines y and uses z.
The third defines x through the pointer variable z.
The fourth defines y and uses x accessed through the pointer variable z.
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Definitions and uses: Arrays

Arrays are also tricky.
Consider the following declaration and two statements in C:

The first statement defines variable A.

The second statement defines A and uses i, x, and y.
OR: The second statement defines A[i] but not the entire array A.
The choice of whether to consider the entire array A as defined or
just the specific element depends upon how stringent is the
requirement for coverage analysis.
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C-use
Uses of a variable that occurs within an expression as part of an
assignment statement, in an output statement, as a parameter within
a function call, and in subscript expressions, are classified as c-use,
where the c in c-use stands for computational.
How many c-uses of x can you find in the following statements?

Answer: 5
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p-use
The occurrence of a variable in an expression used as a condition in a
branch statement, such as an if or a while, is considered a p-use.
The p in p-use stands for predicate.
How many p-uses of z and x can you find in the following statements?

Answer: 3 (2 of z and 1 of x)
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p-use: possible confusion

Consider the statement:

The use of A is clearly a p-use.

The use of x? either p-use or c-use.

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C-uses within a basic block

Consider the basic block
While there are two definitions of p in this block, only the second
definition will propagate to the next block.
The first definition of p is considered local to the block while the
second definition is global.
We are concerned with global definitions and uses.
Note that y and z are global uses.
Their definitions flow into this block from some other block.
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Data flow graph

A data-flow graph of a program, also known as def-use graph,
captures the flow of definitions (also known as defs) across
basic blocks in a program.
It is similar to a control flow graph of a program in that the
nodes, edges, and all paths through the control flow graph are
preserved in the data flow graph.
An example follows.
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Data flow graph: Example

Given a program, find its basic blocks, compute defs, c-uses
and p-uses in each block.
Each block becomes a node in the def-use graph
(this is similar to the control flow graph).
Attach defs, c-use and p-use to each node in the graph.
Label each edge with the condition which, when true, causes the
edge to be taken.
di(x) refers to the definition of variable x at node i.
ui(x) refers to the use of variable x at node i.
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Data flow graph: Example (contd.)

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Def-clear path
Any path starting from a node at which
variable x is defined and ending at a node at
which x is used, without redefining x
anywhere else along the path, is a def-clear
path for x.
Path 2-5 is def-clear for variable z
defined at node 2 and used at node 5.
Path 1-2-5 is NOT def-clear for variable z
defined at node 1 and used at node 5.
Thus definition of z at node 2 is live at
node 5 while that at node 1 is not live at
node 5.
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Def-use pairs
Def of a variable at line l1 and its use at line l2 constitute a defuse pair. l1 and l2 can be the same.
dcu (di(x)) denotes the set of all nodes where di(x) is live and
used.
dpu (di(x)) denotes the set of all edges (k, l) such that there is a
def-clear path from node i to edge (k, l) and x is used at node k.
We say that a def-use pair (di(x), uj(x)) is covered when a defclear path that includes nodes i to node j is executed.
If uj(x) is a p-use, then all edges of the kind (j, k) must also be
taken during some executions.
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Def-use pairs (example)

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Def-use pairs: Minimal set

Def-use pairs are items to be covered during testing.

However, in some cases, coverage of a def-use pair implies
coverage of another def-use pair.
Analysis of the data flow graph can reveal a minimal set of defuse pairs whose coverage implies coverage of all def-use pairs.

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Data flow based adequacy

CU: total number of c-uses in a program.
PU: total number of p-uses.

Given a total of n variables v1, v2, , vn each defined at di

nodes.

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C-use coverage

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C-use coverage: path traversed

Path (Start, , q, k, ..., z, , End) covers the

c-use at node z of x defined at node q given
that (k, , z) is def clear with respect to x

c-use of x

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p-use coverage

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p-use coverage: paths traversed

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All-uses coverage

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Infeasible p- and c-uses

Coverage of a c-use or a p-use requires a path to be traversed
through the program.
However, if this path is infeasible, then some c-uses and p-uses
that require this path to be traversed might also be infeasible.
Infeasible uses are often difficult to determine without some
hint from a test tool.

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Infeasible c-use: Example

Consider the c-use at node 4 of z defined at node 5.
This c-use is infeasible.

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Other data-flow based criteria

There exist several other adequacy criteria based on data flows.

Some of these are more powerful in their error-detection
effectiveness than the c-use, p-use, and all-use criteria.
Examples:
(a) def-use chain or k-dr chain coverage.
These are alternating sequences of def-use for one or more variables.
(b) Data context and ordered data context coverage.
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Subsumes relation

Subsumes: Given a test set T that is adequate with respect to

criterion C1, what can we conclude about the adequacy of T with
respect to another criterion C2?
Effectiveness: Given a test set T that is adequate with respect to
criterion C, what can we expect regarding its effectiveness in
revealing errors?

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Subsumes relationship

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Summary

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Summary
We have introduced the notion of test adequacy and enhancement.
Two types of adequacy criteria considered: one based on control
flow and the other based on data flow.
Control flow based: statement, decision, condition, multiple
condition, MC/DC, and LCSAJ coverage.
Data flow based: c-uses, p-uses, all-uses, k-dr chain, data
context, elementary data context.
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