Web Center for Automated Testing

Welcome to our project site! For students working on this project:

  1. first visit our People Page to find out who's who and how to contact everyone.
  2. Then start reading up on WebObjects to learn about the development tool we'll be using.

Naturally, if you have anything to add here for the group, or any corrections or suggestions for this site, don't hesitate to e-mail them to Dr. Edwards.

Announcements

Project Abstract

Defective, or "bug-riddled," software is a serious problem in the software industry, costing U.S. companies as much as $100 billion last year. Software testing is a critical tool for addressing this issue, but unfortunately, it is viewed as boring and uncreative by practitioners and receives little formal treatment in undergraduate programs.

The objective of this project is to develop a prototype web-based "automated software testing center" where students can submit their own code for testing services and feedback. This center will answer a wide spectrum of student testing needs by providing a "sliding scale" interface, presenting an appropriate set of services based on a given stu-dent's situation, their current assignment, and the instructor's goals. The result will be an array of services with an easy-to-use web interface, allowing students to use the tool in many different classes, allowing instructors to incorporate tool-based testing in their own assignments, and supporting use by students and educators at multiple institutions. Such a tool will serve as an interactive learning environment where students can explore and learn about testing techniques while working on assignments for computer science classes.

The prototype for this project is called Web-CAT: The Web Center for Automated Testing. It will provide 6 basic services for student users:

  1. unit-level test driver generation (for one or more classes)
  2. unit-level test data generation
  3. "built-in test" component wrapper generation
  4. test execution
  5. Graphical and textual summary reporting
  6. "Curator"-style electronic submission and automated grading of program assignments

For more details on the Web-CAT project, read the Project Overview (PDF).