1. Introduction Program slicing is a technique for simplifying programs by focusing on selected aspects of semantics. The process of slicing deletes those parts of the program which can be determined to have no effect upon the semantics of interest. Slicing has applications in testing and debugging, re−engineering, program comprehension and software measurement. For example, in debugging, there...

Software maintainers are faced with the task of regression testing: retesting a modified program on an often large number of test cases. The cost of regression testing can be reduced if the size of the program that must be retested is reduced and if old test cases and old test results can be reused. Tw o complimentary algorithms for reducing the cost of regression testing are presented. The fir...

Repeated outbreaks of trichinellosis caused by the consumption of Trichinella-infected walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) meat, which have sometimes led to serious morbidity, have stimulated Inuit communities in Nunavik (northern Quebec), Canada, to develop an innovative trichinellosis prevention program. The program involves preconsumption testing of meat samples from harvested walrus at a regional la...

Proving the correctness of a program is a quite different activity than debugging and testing a program. Since programs are typically intended to handle a huge, if not infinite, number of different inputs, completely testing a program on all inputs is rarely feasible, and partial testing always leaves open the possibility that something will go wrong in the untested cases. A proof of correctnes...

Included is research that contributes to raising the quality of programs written in C/C++. Empirical testing was tackled. The empirical nature is characterized by the partial quality of its elements, the absence of systematic behavior in the process and the idea of random attempts at program behavior. Empirical testing methods are used the program as a black box view, as well as for the source ...

This paper presents a technique that uses code to automatically generate its own test cases at run-time by using a combination of symbolic and concrete (i.e., regular) execution. The input values to a program (or software component) provide the standard interface of any testing framework with the program it is testing, and generating input values that will explore all the “interesting” behavior...

Some properties of a program data flow can be used to guide program testing. The presented approach aims to exercise usedefinition chains that appear in the program. Two such data oriented testing strategies are proposed; the first involves checking liveness of every definition of a variable at the point(s) of its possible use; the second deals with liveness of vectors of variables treated as a...

Regression testing is a necessary but costly maintenance activity aimed at demonstrating that code has not been adversely aaected by changes. A selective approach to regression testing selects tests for a modi-ed program from an existing test suite. We present a new technique for selective regression testing. Our algorithm constructs control dependence graphs for program versions, and uses thes...