Adding value to formal test oracles

Test oracles are programs which check the output of test cases run on other programs. We describe techniques which add value to formally-defined test oracles in three ways: (a) by measuring functional coverage of test suites, (b) by giving automated support to the process of validating the oracles, and (c) by automating the generation of test cases from the oracles. The techniques involve the use of coverage measures and AI-based search algorithms. We describe the application of these techniques in the verification and validation of a complex piece of real-world software.