Quality Assurance through Rigorous Software Specification and Testing: A Case Study

This paper demonstrates a case study of combining two rigorous software specification and testing methods, namely sequence based software specification and Markov chain usage-based statistical testing and their supporting tools, all developed by the University of Tennessee Software Quality Research Laboratory, and integrating them with an automated testing tool selected for the chosen application to provide fully automated statistical testing and software certification as an economical and feasible means to achieve high product quality. Working on any non-trivial real world problem requires considerable efforts be made to work out all the details needed for fully automated testing with no human intervention. At the end of this process we have the ability of running large numbers of tests, as well as an automated testing facility for low-cost, quick-turnaround testing and re-testing. Our experiences demonstrate a pathway towards lowered cost of testing and improved product quality.