Abstract Testing: Connecting Source Code Verification with Requirements

Traditionally, test cases are used to check whether a system conforms to its requirements. However, to achieve good quality and coverage, large amounts of test cases are needed, and thus huge efforts have to be put into test generation and maintenance. We propose a methodology, called Abstract Testing, in which test cases are replaced by verification scenarios. Such verification scenarios are more abstract than test cases, thus fewer of them are needed and they are easier to create and maintain. Checking verification scenarios against the source code is done automatically using a software model checker. In this paper we describe the general idea of Abstract Testing, and demonstrate its feasibility by a case study from the automotive systems domain.