tutorials

12	sunday morning	Convention Centre, Room 16
12W	wednesday afternoon	Pan Pacific Hotel, Pavilion C

12 Testing Object-Oriented Components

John McGregor, Clemson University and Software Architects, and Lee Copeland, Software Architects

Testing Object-Oriented Components

John McGregor, Clemson University and Software Architects, and Lee Copeland, Software Architects

This tutorial focuses on both techniques and a process for testing the individual components built as part of a project that uses object-oriented techniques. The tutorial is divided into two parts: (1) specific techniques and small examples to illustrate specific testing algorithms and (2) a process for component testing and a context of a complete testing process for object-oriented systems.

The techniques presented in the tutorial are intended to provide a scalable process that can be tailored to the size of a project and the degree of coverage required by the application. The comprehensive test plan, presented in the tutorial, integrates the construction process and the testing process to produce an efficient and complete development process. The three major benefits from this tutorial are: specific testing techniques, a comprehensive testing strategy that is integrated into the development process, and a specific infrastructure for building a reusable testing environment.

Attendee Background: Participants should have participated in the construction of object-oriented programs and performed some level of testing on these program. Component developers and technically-oriented system testers will benefit from this tutorial. Test managers and quality control personnel who are technically oriented will also benefit.

Dr. John D. McGregor is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Clemson University and a senior partner in Software Architects, a software design consulting firm, specializing in object-oriented design techniques. Dr. McGregor has developed testing techniques for object-oriented software and custom testing processes for a variety of companies. He is co-author of "Object-Oriented Software Development: Engineering Software for Reuse," published by Van Nostrand Reinhold. Dr. McGregor is also co-author of "A Practical Guide to Testing Object-Oriented Software," to be published by Addison-Wesley. He has published numerous articles on testing including a monthly column on testing objects in the Journal of Object-Oriented Programming.

Lee Copeland has over twenty-five years experience as an information systems professional. He has held a number of technical and managerial positions with commercial and non-profit organizations in the areas of applications development and software development process improvement. He has taught seminars and consulted extensively throughout the U.S. and internationally. As manager of software development process improvement, he directed the design, introduction, and institutionalizing of formal procedures including static and dynamic testing. As project manager for a system using the object-oriented paradigm, he has focused on applying classical testing to OO systems and on understanding OO testing problems.

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Testing Object-Oriented Components

Testing Object-Oriented Components

Other tutorials in the testing thread are: