Constructing a reproducible testing environment for distributed Java applications.

The emergence of the global Internet, wireless data communications, and the availability of powerful computers is enabling a new generation of distributed and concurrent systems. However, the inherent complexity of such systems introduces many new challenges in system testing and maintenance. One of the major problems in testing such systems is that executions with internal non-deterministic choices make the testing procedure non-repeatable. A natural solution is to artificially force the execution of a program to take desired paths so that a test can be reproduced. However, with geographically distributed processes and heterogeneous platform architectures, distributed systems have imposed new challenges in developing effective techniques for reproducible testing. The goal of this research is to build an environment to automate testing for distributed and concurrent Java applications. We will focus on controlling the order of occurrences of input and remote call events according to a user-specified test scenario, which is composed of input data, a constraint expressed as a partial order over the input and remote call events, and expected output. The testing environment is by itself distributed and does not require source code intrusion into the application under test. With minor changes, the testing components can also be reused in CORBA-based applications implemented in Java.Dept. of Computer Science. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2003 .W35. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 42-05, page: 1769. Adviser: Jessica Chen. Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2003

An implementation of feasible path constraints generation for reproducible testing.

Non-determinism features make the testing of a concurrent program not repeatable. Specification-based reproducible testing is a promising technique that may give the tester more control over the environment of concurrent testing. With a given test case, the crucial part of the test scenario which contributes to achieving the control on the execution path are input events and path constraints in terms of synchronization events. The problem considered in this thesis is to generate a significant set of path constraints automatically from the design specification in terms of design abstract under the assumption that monitors are the key mechanism to handle the synchronization events. In addition, as a considerable feature, formal methods have been applied in the implementation tool to construct the path constraints.Dept. of Computer Science. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2004 .L55. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 43-01, page: 0239. Adviser: Jessica Chen. Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2004

Aspect-Oriented Programming for Test Control

Distributed and multithreaded systems are usually much more complex to analyze or test due to the nondeterminism involved. A possible approach to testing nondeterministic systems is to direct the execution of the program under test to take a certain path for each test, so that a unique output can be observed. Considering specification-based testing, we assume that a test case is given together with a test constraint for directing the internal nondeterministic choices. To instruct the program under test to execute according to a given test constraint, the program under test needs to communicate with the tester. In this thesis, we propose to use the features in Aspect-Oriented Programs to realize such communication. This solution does not require the availability of the source code of the program under test. We provide an automated translation from a test constraint to a set of aspects using AspectJ

Bioconductor: open software development for computational biology and bioinformatics.

The Bioconductor project is an initiative for the collaborative creation of extensible software for computational biology and bioinformatics. The goals of the project include: fostering collaborative development and widespread use of innovative software, reducing barriers to entry into interdisciplinary scientific research, and promoting the achievement of remote reproducibility of research results. We describe details of our aims and methods, identify current challenges, compare Bioconductor to other open bioinformatics projects, and provide working examples

Kompics: a message-passing component model for building distributed systems

The Kompics component model and programming framework was designedto simplify the development of increasingly complex distributed systems. Systems built with Kompics leverage multi-core machines out of the box and they can be dynamically reconfigured to support hot software upgrades. A simulation framework enables deterministic debugging and reproducible performance evaluation of unmodified Kompics distributed systems. We describe the component model and show how to program and compose event-based distributed systems. We present the architectural patterns and abstractions that Kompics facilitates and we highlight a case study of a complex distributed middleware that we have built with Kompics. We show how our approach enables systematic development and evaluation of large-scale and dynamic distributed systems

CraftContext: A Test Platform for Context-Aware Applications

This paper presents a tool, called CraftContext, capable of leveraging the test phase of contextaware application development. CraftContext offers a 3D simulation environment, which is rich in details and resources, and is accessed by a robust and portable CORBA-based API. CraftContext excels most currentexisting testing tools due to its adaptability to different domains.Key words: context-awareness, test tool, CraftContext, JacORB, CORBA, minecraft

Models of everywhere revisited: a technological perspective

The concept ‘models of everywhere’ was first introduced in the mid 2000s as a means of reasoning about the environmental science of a place, changing the nature of the underlying modelling process, from one in which general model structures are used to one in which modelling becomes a learning process about specific places, in particular capturing the idiosyncrasies of that place. At one level, this is a straightforward concept, but at another it is a rich multi-dimensional conceptual framework involving the following key dimensions: models of everywhere, models of everything and models at all times, being constantly re-evaluated against the most current evidence. This is a compelling approach with the potential to deal with epistemic uncertainties and nonlinearities. However, the approach has, as yet, not been fully utilised or explored. This paper examines the concept of models of everywhere in the light of recent advances in technology. The paper argues that, when first proposed, technology was a limiting factor but now, with advances in areas such as Internet of Things, cloud computing and data analytics, many of the barriers have been alleviated. Consequently, it is timely to look again at the concept of models of everywhere in practical conditions as part of a trans-disciplinary effort to tackle the remaining research questions. The paper concludes by identifying the key elements of a research agenda that should underpin such experimentation and deployment