A Classification of Test Purposes Based on Testable Properties

Test purposes are today key-elements for making the formal testing approach applicable to software. They are abstractions for a set of test cases to be observed in programs and some tools for formal testing concentrate their effort to apply test purposes to programs. Defining test purposes for actual systems, however, are not very straightforward. We must first realize what is the property behind the set of test cases we want to address. To help in defining the test purposes for a system under test, this paper presents a classification for test purposes based on the testable properties patterns. First, we analyze the meaning of properties patterns in the light of test purposes and then check the testability of these patterns. As a result, we provide a classification for testable patterns applicable to test purposes and users can choose which pattern better fits his/her set of test cases to be observed. Moreover, since test purposes are defined as standard properties, a model checker can be used to find executions for which test purposes can be satisfied.