The design and implementation of a prototype for data flow analysis at the method-level of object-oriented testing

To enhance the reliability and quality, software systems should be tested. The object-oriented paradigm is regarded as a most promising methodology for software development. The testing of object-oriented software systems is more difficult and more complex than that for traditional programming systems. We describe an approach for object-oriented testing at the method-level. Our approach applies the data flow analysis method combined with the state transition diagram technique, access protection checking technique, and compiler technique to the object-oriented method-level tests. Based on this approach, a prototype for C++ programs has been implemented. Some experimental results on this prototype are presented. The experimental results on the prototype indicate that the approach can reveal data flow errors in C++ programs as anticipation. It supplements our previous approaches for object-oriented testing at the class and cluster-levels.