Gregory M. Kapfhammer

Associate Professor of Computer Science

http://www.cs.allegheny.edu/~gkapfham/

  
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Empirical Evaluation of an Approach to Resource Constrained Test Suite Execution

Gregory M. Kapfhammer, Mary Lou Soffa, and Daniel Mosse'. Empirical Evaluation of an Approach to Resource Constrained Test Suite Execution. Presented in the University of Pittsburgh, Department of Computer Science Colloquium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, November 16, 2005.

Related Project: Juggernaut

Abstract

Software for resource constrained embedded devices is often implemented in the Java programming language because the Java compiler and virtual machine provide enhanced safety, portability, and the potential for run-time optimization. It is important to verify that a software application executes correctly in the environment in which it will normally execute, even if this environment is an embedded one that severely constrains memory resources. Testing can be used to isolate defects within and establish a confidence in the correctness of a Java application that executes in a resource constrained environment. However, executing test suites with a Java virtual machine (JVM) that uses dynamic compilation to create native code bodies can introduce significant testing time overheads if memory resources are highly constrained.

This presentation describes an approach that uses adaptive code unloading to ensure that it is feasible to perform testing in the actual memory constrained execution environment. Experiments with real world case study applications demonstrate that code unloading can reduce both the test suite execution time by 34% and the code size of the test suite and application under test by 78% while maintaining the overall size of the JVM. In particular, this presentation identifies the code unloading techniques that yield the greatest reduction in execution time and code size. Further analysis of the experiment results also lends insight into the characteristics of software applications that restrict and/or support resource constrained testing. Finally, this presentation examines the costs and benefits associated with the use of exhaustive and sample-based profiles of program testing behavior.

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