{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,19]],"date-time":"2025-06-19T04:58:00Z","timestamp":1750309080281,"version":"3.41.0"},"reference-count":3,"publisher":"Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[1981,7,1]],"date-time":"1981-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":362793600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.acm.org\/publications\/policies\/copyright_policy#Background"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["dl.acm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["SIGSOFT Softw. Eng. Notes"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1981,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>If a method were discovered for automatically testing computer programs for errors, software development costs could be substantially reduced. This paper describes an experiment performed as part of an effort to develop such a method.The approach is to insert in the program to be tested a number of \"executable assertions,\" statements about the program that trigger error signals whenever they are evaluated to be false (violated). Test cases are developed by systematically selecting values for the input variables of the program. When the program is run, a plot is generated of the number of assertions violated versus the values of the input variables. The resulting function is termed an \"error function\" and the range of the function is called the \"error space\" of the program. Maximum values of the error function correspond to input variables which cause the most errors to occur in the program. The value of the error function indicates whether the program executed successfully without the need of examining the output of the program in detail.In the experiment, a program was tested using this technique. The results showed that the error function did not contain singularities and was well-behaved. The technique also revealed an error in the test program which had not been discovered in previous testing. These results indicate that it may be possible to apply standard techniques for maximizing functions in order to locate the values in a program's input space which cause the most errors to occur. A major unresolved problem however is the development of assertions which accurately describe the desired behavior of the program under test.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1145\/1010832.1010860","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2004,7,21]],"date-time":"2004-07-21T23:30:10Z","timestamp":1090452610000},"page":"68-75","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["A preliminary experiment in automated software testing"],"prefix":"10.1145","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Jeoff","family":"Benson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"General Research Corporation, Santa Barbara, California"}]}],"member":"320","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1981,7]]},"reference":[{"volume":"45","volume-title":"AFIPS Conference Proceedings: 1976 National Computer Conference","author":"Alberts","key":"e_1_2_1_1_1"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_2_1","unstructured":"D. W. Cooper Adaptive Learning Requirements and Critical Issues General Research Corporation CR-4-708 January 1977.  D. W. Cooper Adaptive Learning Requirements and Critical Issues General Research Corporation CR-4-708 January 1977."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"S. H. Saib J. P. Benson and R. A. Melton Advanced Software Quality Assurance Research Plan General Research Corporation CR-4-720 November 1976.  S. H. Saib J. P. Benson and R. A. Melton Advanced Software Quality Assurance Research Plan General Research Corporation CR-4-720 November 1976.","DOI":"10.21236\/ADB018436"}],"container-title":["ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/10.1145\/1010832.1010860","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1145\/1010832.1010860","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,18]],"date-time":"2025-06-18T22:43:25Z","timestamp":1750286605000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/10.1145\/1010832.1010860"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[1981,7]]},"references-count":3,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[1981,7]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1145\/1010832.1010860"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/1010832.1010860","relation":{},"ISSN":["0163-5948"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"0163-5948"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[1981,7]]},"assertion":[{"value":"1981-07-01","order":2,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}