From random testing of hardware to statistical testing of software

Random or statistical testing consists in exercising a system by supplying to it valued inputs which are randomly selected according to a defined probability distribution on the input domain. The specific role one can expect from statistical testing in a software validation process is pointed out. The notion of test quality with respect to the experiment goal allows the testing time to be adjusted to a target test quality. Numerical results illustrate the strengths and limits of statistical testing as a software validation tool, in the present state-of-the-art