Grammar-based fuzzing using input features

In grammar-based fuzz testing, a formal grammar is used to produce test inputs that are syntactically valid in order to reach the business logic of a program under test. In this setting, it is advantageous to ensure a high diversity of inputs to test more of the program's behavior. How can we characterize features that make inputs diverse and associate them with the execution of particular parts of the program? Previous work does not answer this question to satisfaction, with most attempts mainly considering superficial features defined by the structure of the grammar such as the presence of production rules or terminal symbols, regardless of their context. We present a measure of input coverage called k-path coverage, which takes into account combinations of grammar entities up to a given context depth k, and makes it possible to efficiently express, assess, and achieve input diversity. In a series of experiments, we demonstrate and evaluate how to systematically attain k-path coverage, how it correlates with code coverage and can thus be used as its predictor. By automatically inferring explicit associations between k-path features and the coverage of individual methods we further show how to generate inputs that specifically target the execution of given code locations. We expect the presented instrument of k-paths to prove useful in numerous additional applications such as assessing the quality of grammars, serving as an adequacy criterion for input test suites, enabling test case prioritization, facilitating program comprehension, and perhaps beyond.Im Bereich des grammatik-basierten Fuzz-Testens benutzt man eine formale Grammatik, um Testeingaben zu produzieren, welche syntaktisch korrekt sind, mit dem Ziel die Geschäftslogik eines zu testenden Programms zu erreichen. Dafür ist es vorteilhaft eine hohe Diversität der Eingaben zu sichern, um mehr vom Verhalten des Programms testen zu können. Wie kann man Merkmale charakterisieren, die Eingaben vielfältig machen und diese mit der Ausführung bestimmter Programmteile in Verbindung bringen? Bisherige Ansätze liefern darauf keine ausreichende Antwort, denn meistens betrachten sie oberflächliche, durch die Grammatikstruktur definierte Merkmale, wie das Vorhandensein von Produktionsregeln oder Terminalen, unabhängig von ihrem Verwendungskontext. Wir präsentieren ein Maß für Eingabeabdeckung, genannt -path Abdeckung, welche Kombinationen von Grammatikelementen bis zu einer vorgegebenen Kontexttiefe berücksichtigt und es ermöglicht, die Diversität von Eingaben effizient auszudrücken, zu bewerten und zu erzielen. Mit Experimenten zeigen und evaluieren wir, wie man gezielt -path Abdeckung erreicht und wie sie mit der Codeabdeckung zusammenhängt und diese somit vorhersagen kann. Ferner zeigen wir wie automatisches Erlernen expliziter Assoziationen zwischen Merkmalen und der Abdeckung einzelner Methoden die Erzeugung von Eingaben ermöglicht, welche auf die Ausführung bestimmter Codestellen abzielen. Wir rechnen damit, dass sich -paths als ein vielseitiges Instrument beweisen, dessen Anwendung über solche Gebiete, wie z.B. Messung der Qualität von Grammatiken und Eingabe-Testsuiten, Testfallpriorisierung, oder Erleichterung von Programmverständnis, hinausgeht

Certifying Correctness for Combinatorial Algorithms : by Using Pseudo-Boolean Reasoning

Over the last decades, dramatic improvements in combinatorialoptimisation algorithms have significantly impacted artificialintelligence, operations research, and other areas. These advances,however, are achieved through highly sophisticated algorithms that aredifficult to verify and prone to implementation errors that can causeincorrect results. A promising approach to detect wrong results is touse certifying algorithms that produce not only the desired output butalso a certificate or proof of correctness of the output. An externaltool can then verify the proof to determine that the given answer isvalid. In the Boolean satisfiability (SAT) community, this concept iswell established in the form of proof logging, which has become thestandard solution for generating trustworthy outputs. The problem isthat there are still some SAT solving techniques for which prooflogging is challenging and not yet used in practice. Additionally,there are many formalisms more expressive than SAT, such as constraintprogramming, various graph problems and maximum satisfiability(MaxSAT), for which efficient proof logging is out of reach forstate-of-the-art techniques.This work develops a new proof system building on the cutting planesproof system and operating on pseudo-Boolean constraints (0-1 linearinequalities). We explain how such machine-verifiable proofs can becreated for various problems, including parity reasoning, symmetry anddominance breaking, constraint programming, subgraph isomorphism andmaximum common subgraph problems, and pseudo-Boolean problems. Weimplement and evaluate the resulting algorithms and a verifier for theproof format, demonstrating that the approach is practical for a widerange of problems. We are optimistic that the proposed proof system issuitable for designing certifying variants of algorithms inpseudo-Boolean optimisation, MaxSAT and beyond

Combining SOA and BPM Technologies for Cross-System Process Automation

This paper summarizes the results of an industry case study that introduced a cross-system business process automation solution based on a combination of SOA and BPM standard technologies (i.e., BPMN, BPEL, WSDL). Besides discussing major weaknesses of the existing, custom-built, solution and comparing them against experiences with the developed prototype, the paper presents a course of action for transforming the current solution into the proposed solution. This includes a general approach, consisting of four distinct steps, as well as specific action items that are to be performed for every step. The discussion also covers language and tool support and challenges arising from the transformation

Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering, FASE 2022, which was held during April 4-5, 2022, in Munich, Germany, as part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2022. The 17 regular papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 64 submissions. The proceedings also contain 3 contributions from the Test-Comp Competition. The papers deal with the foundations on which software engineering is built, including topics like software engineering as an engineering discipline, requirements engineering, software architectures, software quality, model-driven development, software processes, software evolution, AI-based software engineering, and the specification, design, and implementation of particular classes of systems, such as (self-)adaptive, collaborative, AI, embedded, distributed, mobile, pervasive, cyber-physical, or service-oriented applications

Aplicaciones de la teoría de la información y la inteligencia artificial al testing de software

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Informática, Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas lnformáticos y de Computación, leída el 4-05-2022Software Testing is a critical field for the software industry, as it has the main tools used to ensure the reliability of the produced software. Currently, mor then 50% of the time and resources for creating a software product are diverted to testing tasks, from unit testing to system testing. Moreover, there is a huge interest into automatising this field, as software gets bigger and the amount of required testing increases. however, software Testing is not only an industry oriented field; it is also a really interesting field with a noble goal (improving the reliability of software systems) that at the same tieme is full of problems to solve....Es Testing Software es un campo crítico para la industria del software, ya que éste contienen las principales herramientas que se usan para asegurar la fiabilidad del software producido. Hoy en día, más del 50% del tiempo y recursos necesarios para crear un producto software son dirigidos a tareas de testing, desde el testing unitario al testing a nivel de sistema. Más aún, hay un gran interés en automatizar este campo, ya que el software cada vez es más grande y la cantidad de testing requerido crece. Sin embargo, el Testing de Software no es solo un campo orientado a la industria; también es un campo muy interesante con un objetivo noble (mejorar la fiabilidad de los sistemas software) que al mismo tiempo está lleno de problemas por resolver...Fac. de InformáticaTRUEunpu

Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering, FASE 2021, which took place during March 27–April 1, 2021, and was held as part of the Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2021. The conference was planned to take place in Luxembourg but changed to an online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 16 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 52 submissions. The book also contains 4 Test-Comp contributions

Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering, FASE 2022, which was held during April 4-5, 2022, in Munich, Germany, as part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2022. The 17 regular papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 64 submissions. The proceedings also contain 3 contributions from the Test-Comp Competition. The papers deal with the foundations on which software engineering is built, including topics like software engineering as an engineering discipline, requirements engineering, software architectures, software quality, model-driven development, software processes, software evolution, AI-based software engineering, and the specification, design, and implementation of particular classes of systems, such as (self-)adaptive, collaborative, AI, embedded, distributed, mobile, pervasive, cyber-physical, or service-oriented applications

Proceedings of the 1st Doctoral Consortium at the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (DC-ECAI 2020)

1st Doctoral Consortium at the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (DC-ECAI 2020), 29-30 August, 2020 Santiago de Compostela, SpainThe DC-ECAI 2020 provides a unique opportunity for PhD students, who are close to finishing their doctorate research, to interact with experienced researchers in the field. Senior members of the community are assigned as mentors for each group of students based on the student’s research or similarity of research interests. The DC-ECAI 2020, which is held virtually this year, allows students from all over the world to present their research and discuss their ongoing research and career plans with their mentor, to do networking with other participants, and to receive training and mentoring about career planning and career option

Handbook of Mathematical Geosciences

This Open Access handbook published at the IAMG's 50th anniversary, presents a compilation of invited path-breaking research contributions by award-winning geoscientists who have been instrumental in shaping the IAMG. It contains 45 chapters that are categorized broadly into five parts (i) theory, (ii) general applications, (iii) exploration and resource estimation, (iv) reviews, and (v) reminiscences covering related topics like mathematical geosciences, mathematical morphology, geostatistics, fractals and multifractals, spatial statistics, multipoint geostatistics, compositional data analysis, informatics, geocomputation, numerical methods, and chaos theory in the geosciences