Oracle (software testing)

An oracle is a mechanism used by software testers and software engineers for determining whether a test has passed or failed.[1] It is used by comparing the output(s) of the system under test, for a given test case input, to the outputs that the oracle determines that product should have. The term was first used and defined in Howden's Introduction to the Theory of Testing. [2] . Additional work on different kinds of oracles was explored by Weyuker. [3]. Oracles are often separate from the system under test.[4]. Method postconditions are commonly used as automated oracles in automated class testing.[5]

Common oracles include:

References

  1. ^ A Course in Black Box Software Testing, Cem Kaner 2004
  2. ^ Edward Miller and William E. Howden, "Software Testing and Validation Techniques", pp. 16-19, IEEE, 1978
  3. ^ "The oracle assumption of program testing", 13th ICSS, pp. 44-49, Honolulu, 1980
  4. ^ a b An Integrated Approach to Software Engineering, Pankaj Jalote 2005, ISBN 038720881X
  5. ^ Bertrand Meyer, et al, "Programs that Test Themselves", IEEE Computer, 42-9, pp 46-55, Sept. 2009
  6. ^ "Generating a test oracle from program documentation", Peters and Parnas, 1994 in Proceedings of the 1994 International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis
  7. ^ Heuristic Test Oracles, Douglas Hoffman, Software Testing & Quality Engineering Magazine, 1999
  8. ^ Test Oracles Using Statistical Methods, Johannes Mayer and Ralph Guderlei
  9. ^ Analysis of a Taxonomy for Test Oracles, Douglas Hoffman, Quality Week, 1998

Bibliography