Abstract: Robust Testing is a systematic test method that uses the OATS (Orthogonal Array Testing System) tool to convert information from product requirements or specifications into a concise set of tests. We found Robust Testing more than twice as productive as conventional testing practices for testing PMX/StarMAIL Release 2.2, a complex private mail exchange (PMX) local area network (LAN)-based electronic mail product that works with several types and versions of LAN software, operating systems, and personal computers (PCs). Robust Testing required less time, enabling us to complete testing on schedule. It found more potentially user-affecting faults, and inspired greater confidence in the quality of the delivered product.

Abstract: Domain testing attempts to find errors in the numeric expressions affecting the flow of control through a program. Intuitively, domain testing provides a systematic form of boundary value testing for the conditional statements within a program. Several forms of domain testing have been proposed, all dealing with the detection of linear errors in linear functions.Perturbation analysis has been previously developed as a measure of the volume of faults, from within a selected space of possible faults, left undetected by a test set. It is adapted here to errors and error spaces. The adapted form is used to show that the different forms of domain testing are closer in error detection ability than had been supposed. They may all be considered effective for finding linear errors in linear predicate functions. A simple extension is proposed, which allows them to detect linear errors in nonlinear predicate functions using only a single additional test point.

Abstract: A testing strategy that links design with test for mixed-signal devices in order to solve the testing problems at their roots is described. Test generation is achieved through mixed-mode simulation of both analog and digital circuitry on a single chip. The key to this strategy is to incorporate design for testability early in the design phase and to use a special architecture for a mixed-mode simulator that facilitates testing. Simulation environment, rules for analog-digital signal conversion at their interface timing delay, and synchronization are described. >

Abstract: We introduce local exhaustive testing as a simple strategy for creating test cases that uncover faults (a deficiency in the code that is responsible for incorrect behavior) with a higher probability than tests chosen randomly. To use local exhaustive testing, we identify certain inputs points as "critical," and then test all inputs close to that point. We expect that this strategy will be particularly effective in applications that include an emphasis on geometric or other regular organization. We demonstrate the effectiveness of local exhaustive testing on a collection of programs that are all implementations of a single specification, the proportional navigation problem.

Abstract: A description is given of DACCT, a pseudorandom test program generator that tests implicit and explicit storage accesses, and its testing philosophy and programming techniques are discussed. DACCT produces a stressful test environment for a computer system and, by focusing on both explicit and implicit data accesses, finds design problems in several of the testing focus areas. DACCT's testing methods, error reports, and recreation abilities offered improved detection design problems as compared with the use of an operating system. >