Abstract

Abstract. Formal specifications contain a great deal of information that can be exploited in the testing of an implementation, either for the generation of test-cases, for sequencing the tests, or as an oracle in verifying the tests. This papers presents automatic techniques for partition analysis in state-based specifications, pecifically VDM. Test domains for individual operations are calculated by reduction of their mathematical description to a Disjunctive Normal Form. Following this, a partition analysis of the system state can be performed which permits the construction of a Finite State Automaton from the specification. This, in turn, can be used to sequence the required tests in a valid and sensible way. A tool has been developed based on the techniques applied to VDM, which has been used to develop the examples presented in the paper. 1 In t roduct ion Formal methods promise high product confidence through mathematical proof of system correctness. The ultimate aim is to do away with the typically large amount