Feb 22, 2007: Offsetting Human Bias with Systematic Software Testing
Filed in: Colloquium
Dr. Renee Bryce, University of Nevada at Las Vegas
Software systems can be large and exhaustive testing is usually not feasible. Products released with inadequate testing can cause bodily harm, result in large economic losses, and affect the quality of day-to-day life. The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) reports that software defects cost the U.S. economy close to $60 billion a year. This estimate can not include or measure additional costs from catastrophic failure and loss of life from safety critical software. Software testers often intuitively test for defects that they anticipate while less foreseen defects are overlooked. My research applies combinatorial testing strategies that may offset some degree of human bias.
In this talk, I will review a combinatorial testing strategy known as Software Interaction Testing. I will discuss several of my contributions in this area: (1) a greedy algorithm that constructs interaction test suites with a logarithmic guarantee, (2) a framework of greedy one-test-at-a-time algorithms to generate such tests, and (3) an algorithm that addresses test prioritization for software interaction testing. I will also discuss my current and future work which includes: (1) extensions of the interaction testing methodology to address practical needs of testers, (2) empirical studies of interaction testing in practice, and (3) algorithms that can be used to automatically generate test suites.
Renee Bryce earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Arizona State University in May 2006. She earned her B.S. (1999) and M.S. (2000) degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her research areas interests include Software Engineering and Human Computer Interaction, with emphasis on software testing and usability testing. Renee served as a full-time lecturer of Computer Science at Arizona State University from 2002-2006 and received the department's "Instructor of the Year" award twice during this time. She is also the recipient of the Arizona State Commission on the Status of Women award for her "achievements and contributions towards advancing the status of women".
Abstract
Software systems can be large and exhaustive testing is usually not feasible. Products released with inadequate testing can cause bodily harm, result in large economic losses, and affect the quality of day-to-day life. The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) reports that software defects cost the U.S. economy close to $60 billion a year. This estimate can not include or measure additional costs from catastrophic failure and loss of life from safety critical software. Software testers often intuitively test for defects that they anticipate while less foreseen defects are overlooked. My research applies combinatorial testing strategies that may offset some degree of human bias.
In this talk, I will review a combinatorial testing strategy known as Software Interaction Testing. I will discuss several of my contributions in this area: (1) a greedy algorithm that constructs interaction test suites with a logarithmic guarantee, (2) a framework of greedy one-test-at-a-time algorithms to generate such tests, and (3) an algorithm that addresses test prioritization for software interaction testing. I will also discuss my current and future work which includes: (1) extensions of the interaction testing methodology to address practical needs of testers, (2) empirical studies of interaction testing in practice, and (3) algorithms that can be used to automatically generate test suites.
Bio
Renee Bryce earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Arizona State University in May 2006. She earned her B.S. (1999) and M.S. (2000) degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her research areas interests include Software Engineering and Human Computer Interaction, with emphasis on software testing and usability testing. Renee served as a full-time lecturer of Computer Science at Arizona State University from 2002-2006 and received the department's "Instructor of the Year" award twice during this time. She is also the recipient of the Arizona State Commission on the Status of Women award for her "achievements and contributions towards advancing the status of women".