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Automatic test case generation for spreadsheets

Test case generation in software testing is a process of developing a set of
test data that satisfies a particular test adequacy criterion. It is desirable to
automate this process since doing it manually is not only technically difficult
but also tedious and time-consuming. Although there has been considerable
research in automatic test case generation directed at imperative languages, we
find no research exists addressing the problem for spreadsheet languages. This
problem is particularly important for spreadsheet languages, since spreadsheet
languages are widely used by end users and most of them lack testing backgrounds.
To address this need, in this thesis, we present an automatic test
case generation methodology for spreadsheet languages. Based on an analysis
of the differences between imperative languages and spreadsheet languages, we
developed our methodology by properly adapting existing test case generation
techniques for imperative languages. Our methodology is integrated with a
previously developed methodology for testing spreadsheets, and supports incremental
automatic test case generation and visual feedback. We have conducted
a family of empirical studies to assess the effectiveness and the efficiency of
the essential techniques underlying our methodology. The results of our studies
show that the test cases generated by our methodology can exercise a large percentage
of a spreadsheet under test. The results also provide insights into the
tradeoffs between two test case generation techniques for spreadsheet languages. / Graduation date: 2001

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/32777
Date27 June 2000
CreatorsCao, Mingming
ContributorsRothermel, Gregg
Source SetsOregon State University
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis/Dissertation

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