Reducing regression test size by exclusion.

Operational software is constantly evolving. Regression testing is used to identify the unintended consequences of evolutionary changes. As most changes affect only a small proportion of the system, the challenge is to ensure that the regression test set is both safe (all relevant tests are used) and unclusive (only relevant tests are used). Previous approaches to reducing test sets struggle to find safe and inclusive tests by looking only at the changed code. We use decomposition program slicing to safely reduce the size of regression test sets by identifying those parts of a system that could not have been affected by a change; this information will then direct the selection of regression tests by eliminating tests that are not relevant to the change. The technique properly accounts for additions and deletions of code. We extend and use Rothermel and Harrold’s framework for measuring the safety of regression test sets and introduce new safety and precision measures that do not require a priori knowledge of the exact number of modification-revealing tests. We then analytically evaluate and compare our techniques for producing reduced regression test sets

Reducing regression test size by exclusion.

Operational software is constantly evolving. Regression testing is used to identify the unintended consequences of evolutionary changes. As most changes affect only a small proportion of the system, the challenge is to ensure that the regression test set is both safe (all relevant tests are used) and unclusive (only relevant tests are used). Previous approaches to reducing test sets struggle to find safe and inclusive tests by looking only at the changed code. We use decomposition program slicing to safely reduce the size of regression test sets by identifying those parts of a system that could not have been affected by a change; this information will then direct the selection of regression tests by eliminating tests that are not relevant to the change. The technique properly accounts for additions and deletions of code. We extend and use Rothermel and Harrold’s framework for measuring the safety of regression test sets and introduce new safety and precision measures that do not require a priori knowledge of the exact number of modification-revealing tests. We then analytically evaluate and compare our techniques for producing reduced regression test sets

Suppression of Excitation and Spectral Broadening Induced by Interactions in a Cold Gas of Rydberg Atoms

We report on the observation of ultralong range interactions in a gas of cold Rubidium Rydberg atoms. The van-der-Waals interaction between a pair of Rydberg atoms separated as far as 100,000 Bohr radii features two important effects: Spectral broadening of the resonance lines and suppression of excitation with increasing density. The density dependence of these effects is investigated in detail for the S- and P- Rydberg states with main quantum numbers n ~ 60 and n ~ 80 excited by narrow-band continuous-wave laser light. The density-dependent suppression of excitation can be interpreted as the onset of an interaction-induced local blockade

Many-body spin interactions and the ground state of a dense Rydberg lattice gas

We study a one-dimensional atomic lattice gas in which Rydberg atoms are excited by a laser and whose external dynamics is frozen. We identify a parameter regime in which the Hamiltonian is well-approximated by a spin Hamiltonian with quasi-local many-body interactions which possesses an exact analytic ground state solution. This state is a superposition of all states of the system that are compatible with an interaction induced constraint weighted by a fugacity. We perform a detailed analysis of this state which exhibits a cross-over between a paramagnetic phase with short-ranged correlations and a crystal. This study also leads us to a class of spin models with many-body interactions that permit an analytic ground state solution

A method of limit point calculation in finite element structural analysis

An approach is presented for the calculation of limit points for structures described by discrete coordinates, and whose governing equations derive from finite element concepts. The nonlinear load-displacement path of the imperfect structure is first traced by use of a direct iteration scheme and the determinant of the governing algebraic equations is calculated at each solution point. The limit point is then established by extrapolation and imposition of the condition of zero slope of the plot of load vs. determinant. Three problems are solved in illustration of the approach and in comparison with alternative procedures and test data