This textbook overviews the whole spectrum of formal methods and techniques that are aimed at verifying correctness of software, and how they can be used in practice. It focuses on techniques whereby the user has some control over the properties that are being checked. More specifically, it shows a wide range of techniques covering the whole spectrum: from abstract system design to implementation, from bug finding to full proofs, and from techniques that are push-button by design and give a yes/no answer to techniques that require the user to provide explicit guidance to steer the analysis process. Topics and features: Covers a broad spectrum of software verification techniques, from model checking to annotation checking Provides numerous examples to demonstrate the techniques Focuses on how techniques can be used (and the main ideas behind how they work), as opposed to how they are implemented Explains strengths and weaknesses of the techniques, providing insight into when to use which technique in practice This unique textbook has been written primarily for master’s level students in computer science studying embedded systems and specializing in software technology. The book will also be of interest for students studying cyber security and data science technology, as well as for system or software developers interested in techniques that offer formal guarantees about software.
This practically-focused textbook provides a concise and accessible introduction to the field of software testing, explaining the fundamental principles and offering guidance on applying the theory in an industrial environment. Topics and features: presents a brief history of software quality and its influential pioneers, as well as a discussion of the various software lifecycles used in software development; describes the fundamentals of testing in traditional software engineering, and the role that static testing plays in building quality into a product; explains the process of software test planning, test analysis and design, and test management; discusses test outsourcing, and test metrics and problem solving; reviews the tools available to support software testing activities, and the benefits of a software process improvement initiative; examines testing in the Agile world, and the verification of safety critical systems; considers the legal and ethical aspects of software testing, and the importance of software configuration management; provides key learning topics and review questions in every chapter, and supplies a helpful glossary at the end of the book. This easy-to-follow guide is an essential resource for undergraduate students of computer science seeking to learn about software testing, and how to build high quality and reliable software on time and on budget. The work will also be of interest to industrialists including software engineers, software testers, quality professionals and software managers, as well as the motivated general reader.
This textbook presents a concise introduction to the fundamental principles of software engineering, together with practical guidance on how to apply the theory in a real-world, industrial environment. The wide-ranging coverage encompasses all areas of software design, management, and quality. Topics and features: presents a broad overview of software engineering, including software lifecycles and phases in software development, and project management for software engineering; examines the areas of requirements engineering, software configuration management, software inspections, software testing, software quality assurance, and process quality; covers topics on software metrics and problem solving, software reliability and dependability, and software design and development, including Agile approaches; explains formal methods, a set of mathematical techniques to specify and derive a program from its specification, introducing the Z specification language; discusses software process improvement, describing the CMMI model, and introduces UML, a visual modelling language for software systems; reviews a range of tools to support various activities in software engineering, and offers advice on the selection and management of a software supplier; describes such innovations in the field of software as distributed systems, service-oriented architecture, software as a service, cloud computing, and embedded systems; includes key learning topics, summaries and review questions in each chapter, together with a useful glossary. This practical and easy-to-follow textbook/reference is ideal for computer science students seeking to learn how to build high quality and reliable software on time and on budget. The text also serves as a self-study primer for software engineers, quality professionals, and software managers.
This invaluable textbook/reference provides an easy-to-read guide to the fundamentals of formal methods, highlighting the rich applications of formal methods across a diverse range of areas of computing. Topics and features: introduces the key concepts in software engineering, software reliability and dependability, formal methods, and discrete mathematics; presents a short history of logic, from Aristotle’s syllogistic logic and the logic of the Stoics, through Boole’s symbolic logic, to Frege’s work on predicate logic; covers propositional and predicate logic, as well as more advanced topics such as fuzzy logic, temporal logic, intuitionistic logic, undefined values, and the applications of logic to AI; examines the Z specification language, the Vienna Development Method (VDM) and Irish School of VDM, and the unified modelling language (UML); discusses Dijkstra’s calculus of weakest preconditions, Hoare’s axiomatic semantics of programming languages, and the classical approach of Parnas and his tabular expressions; provides coverage of automata theory, probability and statistics, model checking, and the nature of proof and theorem proving; reviews a selection of tools available to support the formal methodist, and considers the transfer of formal methods to industry; includes review questions and highlights key topics in every chapter, and supplies a helpful glossary at the end of the book. This stimulating guide provides a broad and accessible overview of formal methods for students of computer science and mathematics curious as to how formal methods are applied to the field of computing.
This stimulating textbook presents a broad and accessible guide to the fundamentals of discrete mathematics, highlighting how the techniques may be applied to various exciting areas in computing. The text is designed to motivate and inspire the reader, encouraging further study in this important skill. Features: This book provides an introduction to the building blocks of discrete mathematics, including sets, relations and functions; describes the basics of number theory, the techniques of induction and recursion, and the applications of mathematical sequences, series, permutations, and combinations; presents the essentials of algebra; explains the fundamentals of automata theory, matrices, graph theory, cryptography, coding theory, language theory, and the concepts of computability and decidability; reviews the history of logic, discussing propositional and predicate logic, as well as advanced topics such as the nature of theorem proving; examines the field of software engineering, including software reliability and dependability and describes formal methods; investigates probability and statistics and presents an overview of operations research and financial mathematics.
This reference resource serves as a tool to facilitate development engineers to develop new testing methodologies appropriate for new technological products as they evolve.
This long-awaited revision of a bestseller provides a practical discussion of the nature and aims of software testing. You'll find the latest methodologies for the design of effective test cases, including information on psychological and economic principles, managerial aspects, test tools, high-order testing, code inspections, and debugging. Accessible, comprehensive, and always practical, this edition provides the key information you need to test successfully, whether a novice or a working programmer. Buy your copy today and end up with fewer bugs tomorrow.
Ever since the beginnings of the development of software, researchers have been thinking about how to guarantee its correctness. Formal methods are techniques that can be used to improve software reliability and robustness. This concise volume overviews the whole spectrum of formal methods and techniques that are aimed at verifying correctness of software, and how they can be used in practice. It focuses on techniques whereby the user has some control over the properties that are being checked. More specifically, it shows a wide range of techniques covering the whole spectrum: from abstract system design to implementation, from bug finding to full proofs, and from techniques that are push-button by design and give a yes/no answer to techniques that require the user to provide explicit guidance to steer the analysis process. Topics and features: Covers a broad spectrum of software verification techniques, from model checking to annotation checking Provides numerous examples to demonstrate the techniques Focuses on how techniques can be used (and the main ideas behind how they work), as opposed to how they are implemented Explains strengths and weaknesses of the techniques, providing insight into when to use which technique in practice This unique textbook has been written primarily for master's level students in computer science studying embedded systems and specializing in software technology. The book will also be of interest for students studying cyber security and data science technology, as well as for system or software developers interested in techniques that offer formal guarantees about software. Marieke Huisman is Professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science of the University of Twente, The Netherlands, and Anton Wijs is Assistant Professor at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science of the Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands.
“Don’s book is a very good addition both to the testing literature and to the literature on quality assurance and software engineering... . [It] is likely to become a standard for test training as well as a good reference for professional testers and developers. I would also recommend this book as background material for negotiating outsourced software contracts. I often work as an expert witness in litigation for software with very poor quality, and this book might well reduce or eliminate these lawsuits....” –Capers Jones, VP and CTO, Namcook Analytics LLC Software and system testers repeatedly fall victim to the same pitfalls. Think of them as “anti-patterns”: mistakes that make testing far less effective and efficient than it ought to be. In Common System and Software Testing Pitfalls, Donald G. Firesmith catalogs 92 of these pitfalls. Drawing on his 35 years of software and system engineering experience, Firesmith shows testers and technical managers and other stakeholders how to avoid falling into these pitfalls, recognize when they have already fallen in, and escape while minimizing their negative consequences. Firesmith writes for testing professionals and other stakeholders involved in large or medium-sized projects. His anti-patterns and solutions address both “pure software” applications and “software-reliant systems,” encompassing heterogeneous subsystems, hardware, software, data, facilities, material, and personnel. For each pitfall, he identifies its applicability, characteristic symptoms, potential negative consequences and causes, and offers specific actionable recommendations for avoiding it or limiting its consequences. This guide will help you Pinpoint testing processes that need improvement–before, during, and after the project Improve shared understanding and collaboration among all project participants Develop, review, and optimize future project testing programs Make your test documentation far more useful Identify testing risks and appropriate risk-mitigation strategies Categorize testing problems for metrics collection, analysis, and reporting Train new testers, QA specialists, and other project stakeholders With 92 common testing pitfalls organized into 14 categories, this taxonomy of testing pitfalls should be relatively complete. However, in spite of its comprehensiveness, it is also quite likely that additional pitfalls and even missing categories of pitfalls will be identified over time as testers read this book and compare it to their personal experiences. As an enhancement to the print edition, the author has provided the following location on the web where readers can find major additions and modifications to this taxonomy of pitfalls: http://donald.firesmith.net/home/common-testing-pitfalls Please send any recommended changes and additions to dgf (at) sei (dot) cmu (dot) edu, and the author will consider them for publication both on the website and in future editions of this book.
