This fifth instance of the SPLiT workshop series will discuss novel approaches and open issues in software product line testing. Specifically, SPLiT 2008 aims at investigating how testing in software product line engineering can benefit from experience of other disciplines and vice versa.

Motivation

Software product line engineering (SPLE) has shown to be a very successful paradigm for developing a diversity of similar software products at low cost, in short time, and with high quality.

Similar to the development of single software products, the key aim of testing in software product line engineering (SPLE) is to uncover the evidence of faults in the development artifacts and products.

However, significant differences between SPLE and the development of single systems exist. Those differences lead to specific challenges for product line testing:

• SPLE differentiates between domain engineering and application engineering. This raises at least two issues: Which artifacts should be tested in domain engineering and which ones in application engineering? How to facilitate the reuse of SPL test artifacts?
• The explicit definition and management of variability is key to SPLE: Yet, this raises the issue on how to perform testing activities in the presence of variability. The reusable artifacts of an SPL do not define a single software product but a set of such products. Specifically, no executable system exists in domain engineering that could be tested.

Testing techniques from the development of single software products cannot be applied directly in the SPLE context due to the above differences. Testing techniques which consider the specifics of SPLE are thus needed.

Efficient and effective product line testing is crucial to the success of a PLE in an organization and it depends heavily on establishing the appropriate testing strategies, techniques and methods.

The 5th SPLiT workshop, like its successful predecessors, will address open challenges of testing in an SPLE setting. Many research problems require further study, including questions such as: 1) test case design for different lifecycle stages, including module, integration and system testing both during domain engineering and application engineering, 2) increasing test efficiency and effectiveness, e.g., by means of automated testing or reuse of test artifacts, 3) testing quality properties, like reliability or performance.

In addition to the previous workshops, SPLiT 2008 will seek contributions which discuss how we can learn from other research areas and how other areas can benefit from SPL testing results. Those areas include, but are not limited to, service-oriented architecture (SOA), model-driven development and agile methods. As an example, due to the loose coupling of software services (e.g., Web Services) a potentially unbound number of different service compositions are possible. It should thus be interesting to see how far the solutions for handling the complexity in testing the reusable artifacts of a software product line can be applied to the complexity problem of checking the potential service compositions.

Objectives

The main goal of the workshop is to provide an opportunity to discuss innovative ideas, setting a research agenda, and starting collaborations on diverse topics of SPL testing and related areas. To this end, SPLiT 2008 will bring together both testing researchers and practitioners.

The workshop will be a highly interactive event. Each paper session will be organized in order to stimulate discussions. Dedicated working sessions will be devoted to specific issues in SPL testing.

Topics

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Test case design techniques and test case generation, including approaches for handling variability in test artefacts (e.g., test models and test cases)
• Definition and measurement of test coverage and test effectiveness, including traceability from requirements to test cases
• Techniques for increasing test efficiency and effectiveness, including test automation, testing tools, and minimizing redundant testing across a collection of similar products
• Test of quality characteristics, like performance and reliability
• Use of formal approaches for testing; e.g., model checking
• Application of product line testing strategies and techniques in the context of other development paradigms. Development paradigms of relevance include service-based systems engineering & service-oriented architecture (SOA), agile & test-driven development, and model-driven development and MDA
• Application of testing strategies from other development paradigms in the SPL context
• Fault models for SPLs. What faults are unique to a software product line?

Paper Submission: See the Submission page for details and guidelines for submitting a position paper.

A PDF copy of the SPLiT 2008 Call for Papers flyer is available for download here.

Workshop attendance is open to everyone interested in the topic. See the registration page for details.

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