83,656 research outputs found
An Inductive Approach for Modal Transition System Refinement
Modal Transition Systems (MTSs) provide an appropriate framework for modelling software behaviour when only a partial specification is available. A key characteristic of an MTS is that it explicitly models events that a system is required to provide and is proscribed from exhibiting, and those for which no specification is available, called maybe events. Incremental elaboration of maybe events into either required or proscribed events can be seen as a process of MTS refinement, resulting from extending a given partial specification with more information about the system behaviour. This paper focuses on providing automated support for computing strong refinements
of an MTS with respect to event traces that describe required and proscribed behaviours using a non-monotonic inductive logic programming technique. A real case study is used to illustrate
the practical application of the approach
A Systematic Approach to Constructing Incremental Topology Control Algorithms Using Graph Transformation
Communication networks form the backbone of our society. Topology control
algorithms optimize the topology of such communication networks. Due to the
importance of communication networks, a topology control algorithm should
guarantee certain required consistency properties (e.g., connectivity of the
topology), while achieving desired optimization properties (e.g., a bounded
number of neighbors). Real-world topologies are dynamic (e.g., because nodes
join, leave, or move within the network), which requires topology control
algorithms to operate in an incremental way, i.e., based on the recently
introduced modifications of a topology. Visual programming and specification
languages are a proven means for specifying the structure as well as
consistency and optimization properties of topologies. In this paper, we
present a novel methodology, based on a visual graph transformation and graph
constraint language, for developing incremental topology control algorithms
that are guaranteed to fulfill a set of specified consistency and optimization
constraints. More specifically, we model the possible modifications of a
topology control algorithm and the environment using graph transformation
rules, and we describe consistency and optimization properties using graph
constraints. On this basis, we apply and extend a well-known constructive
approach to derive refined graph transformation rules that preserve these graph
constraints. We apply our methodology to re-engineer an established topology
control algorithm, kTC, and evaluate it in a network simulation study to show
the practical applicability of our approachComment: This document corresponds to the accepted manuscript of the
referenced journal articl
Recommended from our members
Comparing test sets and criteria in the presence of test hypotheses and fault domains
A number of authors have considered the problem of comparing test sets and criteria. Ideally
test sets are compared using a preorder with the property that test set T1 is at least as strong
as T2 if whenever T2 determines that an implementation p is faulty, T1 will also determine that
p is faulty. This notion can be extended to test criteria. However, it has been noted that very
few test sets and criteria are comparable under such an ordering; instead orderings are based
on weaker properties such as subsumes. This paper explores an alternative approach, in which
comparisons are made in the presence of a test hypothesis or fault domain. This approach allows
strong statements about fault detecting ability to be made and yet for a number of test sets and
criteria to be comparable. It may also drive incremental test generation
Reason Maintenance - State of the Art
This paper describes state of the art in reason maintenance with a focus on its future usage in the KiWi project. To give a bigger picture of the field, it also mentions closely related issues such as non-monotonic logic and paraconsistency. The paper is organized as follows: first, two motivating scenarios referring to semantic wikis are presented which are then used to introduce the different reason maintenance techniques
A model and framework for reliable build systems
Reliable and fast builds are essential for rapid turnaround during
development and testing. Popular existing build systems rely on correct manual
specification of build dependencies, which can lead to invalid build outputs
and nondeterminism. We outline the challenges of developing reliable build
systems and explore the design space for their implementation, with a focus on
non-distributed, incremental, parallel build systems. We define a general model
for resources accessed by build tasks and show its correspondence to the
implementation technique of minimum information libraries, APIs that return no
information that the application doesn't plan to use. We also summarize
preliminary experimental results from several prototype build managers
Recommended from our members
Software integration testing based on communication coverage criteria and partial model generation
This paper considers the problem of integration testing the components of a timed distributed software system. We assume that communication between the components is specified using timed interface automata and use computational tree logic (CTL) to define communication-based coverage criteria that refer to send- and receive-statements and communication paths. The proposed method enables testers to focus during component integration on such parts of the specification, e.g. behaviour specifications or Markovian usage models, that are involved in the communication between components to be integrated. A more specific application area of this approach is the integration of test-models, e.g. a transmission gear can be tested based on separated models for the driver behaviour, the engine condition, and the mechanical and hydraulical transmission states. Given such a state-based specification of a distributed system and a concrete coverage goal, a model checker is used in order to determine the coverage or generate test sequences that achieve the goal. Given the generated test sequences we derive a partial test-model of the components from which the test sequences are derived. The partial model can be used to drive further testing and can also be used as the basis for producing additional partial models in incremental integration testing. While the process of deriving the test sequences could suffer from a combinatorial explosion, the effort required to generate the partial model is polynomial in the number of test sequences and their length. Thus, where it is not feasible to produce test sequences that achieve a given type of coverage it is still possible to produce a partial model on the basis of test sequences generated to achieve some other criterion. As a result, the process of generating a partial model has the potential to scale to large industrial software systems. While a particular model checker, UPPAAL, was used, it should be relatively straightforward to adapt the approach for use with other CTL based model checkers. A potential additional benefit of the approach is that it provides a visual description of the state-based testing of distributed systems, which may be beneficial in other contexts such as education and comprehension
- …