A structural testing approach for Aspect-Oriented Programs based on data and control flow

Software testing is a key factor for ensuring software quality. The traditional process-oriented and object-oriented test technology has been quite mature, but test technology in aspect-oriented is still in the primary stage. Due to the unique characteristics of Aspect-Oriented Programs (AOP), the existing testing approaches for process-oriented program and object-oriented program can't be applied directly to aspect-oriented program. So researching an effective test method for Aspect-Oriented Programs becomes very important. In this paper a structural testing approach for AOP is presented. A Block-Definition-Use-Control (BDUC) expression which can represent the control flow and data flow between each block is proposed. Based on the BDUC, three testing criteria are defined: two control flow criteria and one data flow criterion. Our approach is implemented by a tool called CDCT-AJ, which computes the control flow and data flow coverage. Exploratory evaluation presents evidence of the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed testing approach.