SEMANTIC METRICS FOR SOFTWARE TESTABILITY

Software faults that infrequently affect output cause problems in most software and are dangerous in safety-critical systems. When a software fault causes frequent software failures, testing is likely to reveal the fault before the software is released; when the fault ''hides'' from testing, the hidden fault can cause disaster after the software is installed. During the design of safety-critical software, we can isolate certain subfunctions of the software that tend to hide faults. A simple metric, derivable from semantic information found in software specifications, indicates software subfunctions that tend to hide faults. The metric is the domain /range ratio (DRR): the ratio of the cardinality of the possible inputs to the cardinality of the possible outputs. By isolating modules that implement a high DRR function during design, we can produce programs that are less likely to hide faults during testing. The DRR is available early in the software lifecycle; when code has been produced, the potential for hidden faults can be further explored using empirical methods. Using the DRR during design and empirical methods during execution, we can better plan and implement strategies for enhancing testability. For certain specifications, testability considerations can help produce modules that require less additional testing when assumptions change about the distribution of inputs. Such modules are good candidates for software reuse.