Simons, A.J.H. (2005) Testing with guarantees and the failure of regression testing in eXtreme Programming. In: Baumeister, H., Marchesi, M. and Holcombe, M., (eds.) Extreme Programming and Agile Processes in Software Engineering, Proceedings. 6th International Conference, XP 2005, June 18-23, Sheffield, UK. Springer , 118 - 126. ISBN 978-3-540-26277-0
Abstract
The eXtreme Programming (XP) method eschews all formal design, but compensates for this by rigorous unit testing. Test-sets, which constitute the only enduring specification, are intuitively developed and so may not be complete. This paper presents a method for generating complete unit test-sets for objects, based on simple finite state machines. Using this method, it is possible to prove that saved regression test-sets do not provide the expected guarantees of correctness when applied to modified or extended objects. Such objects, which pass the saved tests, may yet contain introduced faults. This puts the whole practice of regression testing in XP into question. To obtain the same level of guarantee, tests must be regenerated from scratch for the extended object. A notion of guaranteed, repeatable quality after testing is defined.
Metadata
Item Type: | Proceedings Paper |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Editors: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2005 Springer. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Extreme Programming and Agile Processes in Software Engineering, Proceedings. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Computer Science (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 08 May 2014 15:44 |
Last Modified: | 16 Nov 2016 10:24 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/11499053_14 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer |
Refereed: | No |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:78799 |