CTFTP: A Test Case Generation Strategy for General Boolean Expressions Based on Ordered Binary Label-Driven Petri Nets

Boolean expression testing requires certain types of tests for each Boolean expression in program specification or implementation. Fault-based testing essentially uses a subset of the exhaustive test set to detect certain special types of faults. A fault-based Boolean expression testing strategy called constraint true and false test point (CTFTP) is proposed. The test consists of two test case generation strategies, namely a unique constraint true point (UCTP) strategy and a near constraint false point (NCFP) strategy. An ordered binary label-driven Petri net model is presented to analyze the interaction between Boolean transitions and Boolean literals and yield the test paths of a singular term for the irredundant disjunctive normal forms (IDNFs). On the basis of the test paths, we develop a configuration-based IDNF test generation algorithm, which is employed to obtain the UCTP, NCFP, and CTFTP test sets for the IDNFs. The proposed test generation algorithm based on literal substitution is applied to extend the CTFTP strategy and generate a test suite for general Boolean expressions, which are evaluated using TCAS II specifications. Experimental results show that the CTFTP strategy can detect the same seven types of faults similar to the MUMCUT strategy when testing IDNFs, but only a subset of the MUMCUT test set is required. Five types of faults of general Boolean expressions can also be detected using CTFTP strategies.