Authors: Neukirchen, Helmut¹; Zeiss, Benjamin²; Grabowski, Jens³

Source: International Journal on Software Tools for Technology Transfer, Volume 10, Number 4, August 2008 , pp. 309-326(18)

Publisher: Springer

Abstract:

Experience with the development and maintenance of large test suites specified using the Testing and Test Control Notation (TTCN-3) has shown that it is difficult to construct tests that are concise with respect to quality aspects such as maintainability or usability. The ISO/IEC standard 9126 defines a general software quality model that substantiates the term “quality” with characteristics and subcharacteristics. The domain of test specifications, however, requires an adaption of this general model. To apply it to specific languages such as TTCN-3, it needs to be instantiated. In this paper, we present an instantiation of this model as well as an approach to assess and improve test specifications. The assessment is based on metrics and the identification of code smells. The quality improvement is based on refactoring. Example measurements using our TTCN-3 tool TRex demonstrate how this procedure is applied in practise.

Keywords: Test specification; TTCN-3; Quality model; Code smells; Metrics; Refactoring

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10009-008-0075-0

Affiliations: 1: Software Engineering for Distributed Systems Group, Institute for Computer Science, University of Göttingen, Lotzestr. 16-18, 37083, Göttingen, Germany, Email: neukirchen@cs.uni-goettingen.de 2: Software Engineering for Distributed Systems Group, Institute for Computer Science, University of Göttingen, Lotzestr. 16-18, 37083, Göttingen, Germany, Email: zeiss@cs.uni-goettingen.de 3: Software Engineering for Distributed Systems Group, Institute for Computer Science, University of Göttingen, Lotzestr. 16-18, 37083, Göttingen, Germany, Email: grabowski@cs.uni-goettingen.de

Publication date: 2008-08-01

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