CS527: Advanced Topics in Software Engineering (Software Testing and Analysis) Darko Marinov August 28, 2008

Course Overview Graduate seminar on program analysis (for bug finding), emphasis: systematic testing –Papers: read/write/present/discuss –Focus on a (research) project: proposal, progress report, presentation, paper –One or two problem sets Teaching staff –Insructor: Darko –TA: Vilas

Course Communication Mailing list: cs527 AT cs.uiuc.edu –Did you get welcome and questionnaire? –Thank you for answering the questionnaire Wiki –New groups were created and should be populated with all registered students –Hopefully all of you can sign up on “People”

Course Organization Questions Textbook? –No textbook required –For some background on testing, you can read “Introduction to Software Testing” by Paul Ammann and Jeff Offutt Deliverables? –No exams: no final, no midterm –Focus on project (which is not easy) Writing: proposal, two reports, hopefully bug reports Presentation: show your work and related papers

Evaluation Grading –Project [40%] –Presentation [20%] –Participation (reports and discussion) [20%] –Problem set(s) [20%] Distribution –Grades will be A- centered –No guarantee for A (or even a passing grade)! Project is the most important

General Project Topics Test thoroughly a piece of software Apply some technique(s)/tool(s) that we read about on some piece of software Improve some technique/tool that we discuss in class Evaluate some techniques/tools on a number of case studies Develop a new technique/tool …

Today’s Lecture Guideline for reading papers Paper on writing papers Some example testing

Guideline for Reading Papers How to Read an Engineering Research Paper by William G. GriswoldHow to Read an Engineering Research Paper Did you get to read the guideline? –How long is the report form? Our form for reports will be shorter –In the future, papers should be read (and some reports written) in advance, before the class, so that we can have a good discussion Any questions about the guideline?

(Meta-)Paper on Writing Papers Writing Good Software Engineering Research Papers by Mary Shaw (ICSE 2003)Writing Good Software Engineering Research Papers Could we analyze this paper itself using the guideline for reading papers?

Writing Good SE Papers Motivation –Guidelines for writing papers for ICSE Approach –Analysis of papers submitted to ICSE 2002 –Distribution across three dimensions Question Result Validation Results –Writing matters, know your conferences!

Types of Question Method or means of development Method for analysis or evaluation Design, evaluation, or analysis of a particular instance Generalization or characterization Feasibility study or exploration

Types of Result Procedure or technique Qualitative or descriptive model Empirical model Analytic model Tool or notation Specific solution, prototype, answer, or judgment Report

Types of Validation Analysis Evaluation Experience Example Persuasion Blatant assertion

Some Questions for Discussion Why do analysis papers have an edge? What about other (software engineering) conferences? Does the mentality of PC differ from one conference to another? Development vs. evaluation in software engineering?

Other Papers/Projects? Some papers that you read or will read –Do they follow these guidelines? Your reports on papers should also consider question/result/validation Your own project –Question? –Result? –Validation?

Next Lecture Tuesday, September 2 Assignment 1 –Read a paper (listed on Wiki) Feedback-directed random test generation by Carlos Pacheco, Shuvendu K. Lahiri, Michael D. Ernst, and Thomas Ball (ICSE 2007)Feedback-directed random test generation –If communication works, write a report Assignment 0: Modify “People” on Wiki More info will be sent on the mailing list