Title :
Robustness testing of Java server applications
Author :
Fu, Chen ; Milanova, Ana ; Ryder, Barbara Gershon ; Wonnacott, David G.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. Sci., Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, USA
fDate :
4/1/2005 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
This paper presents a new compile-time analysis that enables a testing methodology for white-box coverage testing of error recovery code (i.e., exception handlers) of server applications written in Java, using compiler-directed fault injection. The analysis allows compiler-generated instrumentation to guide the fault injection and to record the recovery code exercised. (An injected fault is experienced as a Java exception.) The analysis 1) identifies the exception-flow "def-uses" to be tested in this manner, 2) determines the kind of fault to be requested at a program point, and 3) finds appropriate locations for code instrumentation. The analysis incorporates refinements that establish sufficient context sensitivity to ensure relatively precise def-use links and to eliminate some spurious def-uses due to demonstrably infeasible control flow. A runtime test harness calculates test coverage of these links using an exception def-catch metric. Experiments with the methodology demonstrate the utility of the increased precision in obtaining good test coverage on a set of moderately sized server benchmarks.
Keywords :
Java; data flow analysis; error handling; file servers; program compilers; program control structures; program testing; software fault tolerance; Java server applications testing; compile-time analysis; compiler-directed fault injection; compiler-generated instrumentation; error recovery code; exception handlers; software reliability; white-box coverage testing; Application software; Computer Society; Computer crashes; Instruments; Java; Robustness; System testing; Telephony; Vehicle crash testing; Web server; Index Terms- Reliability; Java; def-use testing; exceptions; test coverage metrics.;
Journal_Title :
Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TSE.2005.51