A formal evaluation of data flow path selection criteria

Author

Clarke, Lori A. ; Podgurski, Andy ; Richardson, Debra J. ; Zeil, Steven J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput. & Inf. Sci., Massachusetts Univ., Amherst, MA, USA

Volume

15

Issue

11

fYear

1989

fDate

11/1/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1318

Lastpage

1332

Abstract

The authors report on the results of their evaluation of path-selection criteria based on data-flow relationships. They show how these criteria relate to each other, thereby demonstrating some of their strengths and weaknesses. A subsumption hierarchy showing their relationship is presented. It is shown that one of the major weaknesses of all the criteria is that they are based solely on syntactic information and do not consider semantic issues such as infeasible paths. The authors discuss the infeasible-path problem as well as other issues that must be considered in order to evaluate these criteria more meaningfully and to formulate a more effective path-selection criterion

Keywords

flowcharting; software engineering; data flow path selection criteria; data-flow relationships; formal evaluation; infeasible-path problem; subsumption hierarchy; syntactic information; Computer science; Contracts; Information science; Marine vehicles; Programming profession; Software testing; Terminology;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0098-5589

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/32.41326

Filename

41326