Article

Multi-threaded testing with AOP is easy, and it finds bugs!

Authors:

Shmuel UrAuthors Info & Claims

Euro-Par'05: Proceedings of the 11th international Euro-Par conference on Parallel Processing

Pages 740 - 749

https://doi.org/10.1007/11549468_81

Published: 30 August 2005 Publication History

Abstract

We investigate the suitability of AOP (Aspect Oriented Programming) for testing tools by trying to implement the ConTest testing tool using AspectJ, a tool that implements AOP for the Java programming language. We examine whether the entire set of features can be implemented this way, in the context of the larger problem where moving to a higher level of abstraction means that some details cannot be implemented.

Our conclusion from this exercise is that AOP is very suitable for the implementation of a number of classes of test tools. These include multi-threaded noise makers such as ConTest, in addition to coverage analyzers, data-race detectors, network traffic simulators, runtime bug pattern detectors, and others. The main advantage is that the instrumentation part of the tool creating method, which usually contains little scientific contribution but consumes most of the work, becomes much easier to perform and requires less expertise. In our specific exercise, a task that took more than half a year and required specialized knowledge, was reduced to two weeks work by a relative novice.

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Cited By

Souza SBrito MSilva RSouza PZaluska ELourenço JFarchi E(2011)Research in concurrent software testingProceedings of the Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Systems: Testing, Analysis, and Debugging10.1145/2002962.2002964(1-5)Online publication date: 17-Jul-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2002962.2002964
Achenbach MOstermann K(2010)A meta-aspect protocol for developing dynamic analysesProceedings of the First international conference on Runtime verification10.5555/1939399.1939415(153-167)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1939399.1939415
Eichinger FPankratius VGroße PBöhm K(2010)Localizing defects in multithreaded programs by mining dynamic call graphsProceedings of the 5th international academic and industrial conference on Testing - practice and research techniques10.5555/1885930.1885939(56-71)Online publication date: 3-Sep-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1885930.1885939
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Published In

cover image Guide Proceedings

Euro-Par'05: Proceedings of the 11th international Euro-Par conference on Parallel Processing

August 2005

1294 pages

ISBN:3540287000

Editors:
José C. Cunha
Topic Chairs
,
Pedro D. Medeiros
Faculdade de Ciências e Technologia CITI Centre, Quinta da Torre, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal

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Springer-Verlag

Berlin, Heidelberg

Publication History

Published: 30 August 2005

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Cited By

Souza SBrito MSilva RSouza PZaluska ELourenço JFarchi E(2011)Research in concurrent software testingProceedings of the Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Systems: Testing, Analysis, and Debugging10.1145/2002962.2002964(1-5)Online publication date: 17-Jul-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2002962.2002964
Achenbach MOstermann K(2010)A meta-aspect protocol for developing dynamic analysesProceedings of the First international conference on Runtime verification10.5555/1939399.1939415(153-167)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1939399.1939415
Eichinger FPankratius VGroße PBöhm K(2010)Localizing defects in multithreaded programs by mining dynamic call graphsProceedings of the 5th international academic and industrial conference on Testing - practice and research techniques10.5555/1885930.1885939(56-71)Online publication date: 3-Sep-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1885930.1885939
Xi CHarbulot BGurd JGroher IKellens ASchwanninger CAdams BHohenstein UAguiar ATruyen E(2009)Aspect-oriented support for synchronization in parallel computingProceedings of the 1st workshop on Linking aspect technology and evolution10.1145/1509847.1509848(1-5)Online publication date: 3-Mar-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1509847.1509848
Dantas AHarris G(2008)Improving developers' confidence in test results of multi-threaded systemsCompanion to the 23rd ACM SIGPLAN conference on Object-oriented programming systems languages and applications10.1145/1449814.1449898(899-900)Online publication date: 19-Oct-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1449814.1449898
Chen JMacDonald SUr S(2008)Towards a better collaboration of static and dynamic analyses for testing concurrent programsProceedings of the 6th workshop on Parallel and distributed systems: testing, analysis, and debugging10.1145/1390841.1390849(1-9)Online publication date: 20-Jul-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1390841.1390849
Chen JMacDonald SStirewalt KEgyed AFischer B(2007)Testing concurrent programs using value schedulesProceedings of the 22nd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering10.1145/1321631.1321678(313-322)Online publication date: 5-Nov-2007
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Nir-Buchbinder YUr SPezzè M(2007)ConTest listenersFourth international workshop on Software quality assurance: in conjunction with the 6th ESEC/FSE joint meeting10.1145/1295074.1295077(9-16)Online publication date: 3-Sep-2007
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Quinlan DUr SVuduc R(2005)An extensible open-source compiler infrastructure for testingProceedings of the First Haifa international conference on Hardware and Software Verification and Testing10.1007/11678779_9(116-133)Online publication date: 13-Nov-2005
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MacDonald SChen JNovillo D(2005)Choosing among alternative futuresProceedings of the First Haifa international conference on Hardware and Software Verification and Testing10.1007/11678779_17(247-264)Online publication date: 13-Nov-2005
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