Abstract: Although  testing  is  central to  debugging  and  software certification, there  is no adequate  language to specify  test suites over  source code. Such  a language  should be simple and  concise in daily  use, feature  a precise  semantics, and  of course,  it  has to facilitate  suitable engines  to compute  test suites  and  assess the coverage achieved by a test suite.
In  this talk  we introduce  the language  FQL designed  to  fit these purposes.  We achieve  the  necessary expressive  power  by a  natural extension of regular expressions which matches test suites rather than individual executions. To evaluate the language, we show for a list of informal  requirements  how to  express  them  in  FQL.  Moreover,  we present a  test case  generation engine for  C programs  and practical experiments with the sample specifications.

In his research, Helmut Veith applies formal and logical methods to problems in technical computer science and software technology. His current work is focussing on model checking, software verification and testing, embedded software and computer security. >>more