My Current Research Topics and Past Work on Software Testing

• Automation of software test:

  • CASCAT/CASOCC: Automated software testing tool for EJB components based on algebraic specifications;

  • Data mutation test method: Practical automation of testing software that require structurally complex input data, such as modelling tools, etc. 

  • Multi-agent approach to testing web-based applications and web services

  • Ontology of software testing: 

    • service oriented integration of software testing tools 

    • software testing as services

• Observation theory of software testing:

  • Axioms of behaviour observation in software testing methods

  • Patterns of behaviour observation methods in software testing 

  • Comparison of testing method according to observation techniques

  • Application of the theory to testing software components

  • Application of the theory to testing concurrent systems

  • Validity of oracle defined by observation context in the final semantics of algebraic specification

• Axiomatic foundation of software testing: 

  • Axioms of test adequacy measurement 

  • Measurement theory of test adequacy: 

    • scale type of test adequacy measurement, 

    • irregularity theorem

  • Axiomatic assessment of test adequacy criteria

  • Inductive inference foundation of software testing: 

    • relationship between test adequacy and software correctness and reliability

    • testing can guarantee correctness without writing down a formal specification. 

Publications on Software Testing

1. Yu Liu and Hong Zhu, An Experimental Evaluation of the Reliability of Adaptive Random Testing Methods, Proc. of The Second IEEE International Conference on Secure System Integration and Reliability Improvement (SSIRI 2008), Yokohama , Japan, July 14-17, 2008. (Accepted).

2. David Kung, Hong Zhu, Software Verification and Validation, Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Engineering, Benjamin Wah (Ed.), John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (Accepted) (Click here for the pre-publication draft)

3. Bo Yu, Liang Kong, Yufeng Zhang, and Hong Zhu, Testing Java Components Based on Algebraic Specifications, Proc. of ICST 2008, April 9-11, 2008, Lillehammer , Norway . 

4. Lijun Shan and Hong Zhu, Generating Structurally Complex Test Cases by Data Mutation: A Case Study of Testing an Automated Modelling Tool, Special Issue on Automation of Software Test, the Computer Journal. (Available online as Advance Access,  doi:10.1093/comjnl/bxm043). June 28, 2007. 

5. Liang Kong, Hong Zhu and Bin Zhou, Automated Testing EJB Components Based on Algebraic Specifications, Proceeding of the First IEEE International Workshop on Testing Emergent Software Technologies (TEST 2007), Beijing, China, July 27, 2007. in Proc. of COMPSAC 2007 Vol. 2, pp717-722. IEEE CS Press 2007. 

6. Hong Zhu, A Framework for Service-Oriented Testing of Web Services, 3rd International Workshop on Quality Assurance and Testing Web-based Applications, Proc. of COMPSAC’06, Sept. 2006, Chicago, USA, pp679-691.

7. Shan, L. and Zhu, H., Testing Software Modelling Tools Using Data Mutation, Proc. of AST’06, Shanghai, China, May 23, 2006. ACM Press.

8. Zhu, H. and Huo, Q., Developing A Software Testing Ontology in UML for A Software Growth Environment of Web-Based Applications, Chapter IX: Software Evolution with UML and XML, Hongji Yang (ed.). IDEA Group Inc. 2005, pp263-295.

9. Zhu, H. and He, X., A Methodology of Component Integration Testing, in Testing Commercial-Off-The-Shelf Components and Systems, Sami Beydeda and Volker Gruhn (ed.), Springer, 2005, pp239-269.

10. Zhu, H. Cooperative Agent Approach to Quality Assurance and Testing Web Software, Proc. of COMPSAC’04 (Workshop papers and Fast Abstracts), the Workshop on Quality Assurance and Testing of Web-Based Applications, Sept. 2004, IEEE CS, Hong Kong,pp110-113.

11. Zhu, H., Huo, Q., and Greenwood, S., A Multi-Agent Software Environment for Testing Web-based Applications, in Proc. of IEEE COMPSAC'03, Dallas, USA, Nov. 2003. pp210-215.

12. Zhu, H., A Note on Test Oracles and Semantics of Algebraic Specifications, in Proc. of QSIC'03, Dallas, USA, Nov. 2003, pp91-99.

13. Huo, Q., Zhu, H. and Greenwood, S., Using Ontology in Agent-based Web Testing, Proc. of ICIIT’2002, 22~25 Sept., 2002, Beijing, China, pp464-472

14. Zhu, H. and He, X., A methodology of testing high-level Petri nets, Information and Software Technology, Volume 44, Issue 8, 1 June 2002, Pages 473-489.

15. Zhu, H., Jin, L., Diaper, D., Software requirements validation via task analysis, Journal of System and Software, March 2002, Vol 61, Issue 2, pp145~169.

16. Zhu, H., and He, X., Axioms of Behaviour Observation in Software Testing, Technical report CMS-TR-02-01, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, UK, April 2002.

17. Zhu, H. and He, X., An Observational Theory of Integration Testing for Component-Based Software Development, Proc. of IEEE 25th International Conference on Computer Software and applications (COMPSAC’2001), 8-12 October 2001, Chicago, Illinois. 

18. Zhu, H. and He, X., Constructions of Behaviour Observation Schemes in Software Testing, Proc. of The 5'th IEEE Symposium on High Assurance Systems Engineering, November 15-17, 2000, Albuquerque, New Mexico, in press. .

19. Zhu, H. and He, X., A theory of testing high-level Petri nets, Proc. of International Conference on Software – Theory and Practice, IFIP World Computer Congress 2000, Beijing, August 21-25, 2000, pp443~450.

20. Gardiner, S. (ed.), Testing Safety Related Software, 1999. (Contribution to three chapters)

21. Zhu, H. and Jin, L., The axiomatic approach to the foundation of software testing: an informal review, Post-Conference Proceedings of International Symposium on Computing and Microelectronics, Beijing, May 3, 1998.

22. Zhu, H., Toward a relationship between software reliability estimation and computational complexity, Chinese Journal of Software, Sept. 1998. (In Chinese)

23. Zhu, H. and Jin, L. Software Quality Assurance and Testing, Academic Press, Beijing, 1997.

24. Zhu, H., Hall, P. and May, J., Software unit test coverage and adequacy, ACM Computing Survey, Vol. 29, No. 4, Dec. 1997, pp366~427.

25. Jin, L., Zhu, H., and Hall, P., Adequate testing of hypertext applications, Journal of Information and Software Technology, UK. Vol. 39, No. 4, pp225-234, 1997.

26. Jin, L and Zhu, H., On adequacy criteria of testing hypertext applications, Chinese Journal of Software, August, 1997, pp130~136, (In Chinese).

27. Zhu, H., A formal interpretation of software testing as inductive inference, Journal of Software Testing, Verification and Reliability, UK., Vol. 6, July 1996, pp3~31.

28. Zhu, H., A formal analysis of the subsume relation between software test adequacy criteria, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Vol. 22, No. 4, April 1996, pp248~255.

29. Zhu, H., Axiomatic assessment of control flow based software test adequacy criteria, Software Engineering Journal, UK, Sept. 1995.

30. Zhu, H., Hall, P., and May, J., Understanding software test adequacy -- An axiomatic and measurement approach, Mathematics of Dependable Systems, Edited by Mitchell, C., and Stavridou, V., Oxford University Press, 1995, pp275~295.

31. Zhu, H., An induction theory of software testing, Science in China, Supp. Vol. 38, Sept. 1995.

32. Zhu, H. and Jin, L. An inductive inference foundation of software testing, Proc. 5'th National Conference on Machine Learning, 1995.7. (In Chinese).

33. Jin, L., Zhu, H., and Hall, P., Testing hypertext for quality assurance, Proc. of SQM'95, Spain, May 1995.

34. Zhu, H. and Hall, P., Test data adequacy measurement, Software Engineering Journal, Vol. 8, No.1, Jan. 1993., pp12-30.

35. Zhu, H., Hall, P., and May, J., Inductive inference and software testing, Journal of Software Testing, Verification, and Reliability, Vol. 2, pp69-81, 1992.