| Title | Software Testing Research - Why it is so Difficult? |
|
Dr. Narayan C. Debnath, Ph.D,D.Sc |
Abstract
“Software Engineering is one of the most important disciplines within computer science. The software verification, an important research topic in software engineering, needs a serious attention. Computer software typically follows the lifecycle that begins with (1) a requirements specification and analysis, followed by (2) a design phase, followed by (3) an implementation phase, and is (4) ultimately validated for acceptance. Finally, the software enters (5) a maintenance phase, where problems with the delivered product are corrected and further enhancements to the product are made.
The goal of validation is to establish confidence that the software should perform as intended. Software testing is considered as the most common, widely accepted and practiced method of validating computer software. Software testing, a practical engineering activity, is essential for producing high-quality software and to perform quality assessment. Testing of a piece of software is considered an important component of software quality assurance. Software testing typically assesses software quality by exercising the software on a representative set of test cases to verify if it meets the specified requirements.
Software Testing has been extensively studied in the literature. Researchers have been trying to come up with efficient testing theory, tools and techniques. Unfortunately, we are making very little progress and still much more work needs to be done in this area. As a result, we need more resources, and most importantly, more education and training to help make progress in this important field. This keynote presentation will explore a broad overview on software testing research including the fundamental definitions, concepts and testing techniques, different perspectives on testing, primary limitations and difficulties in software testing, and possible future research directions in software testing techniques and tools.”
Biography
Dr. Narayan C. Debnath has been a Full Professor of Computer Science since 1989 and currently the Chairman of Computer Science at Winona State University, Minnesota, USA. He is also serving as the President of the International Society for Computers and Their Applications (ISCA). Dr. Debnath is a recipient of a Doctorate degree in Computer Science and a Doctorate degree in Applied Physics (Electrical Engineering). In the past, he served as the President, Vice President, and Conference Coordinator of the International Society for Computers and Their Applications (ISCA), and has been a member of the ISCA Board of Directors since 2001. He served as the Acting Chairman of the Department of Computer Science at Winona State University and received numerous Honors and Awards. During 1986-1989, Dr. Debnath was a faculty of Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, USA, where he was nominated for the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1989.
Dr. Debnath has taught a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses in computer science including Software Engineering, Software Testing, Theory of Computation, Compiler Design, and Principles of Programming Languages. He has made original research contributions on Software Engineering Models, Metrics and Tools, Software Testing, Software Management, and Information Science, Technology and Management. For the past several years, he has been working on research problems involving the development of software models, software complexity metrics and tools, Software testing theory, techniques and tools, Software design tools, techniques and environments, and Information technology and management. Dr. Debnath is an author or co-author of over 300 publications in numerous refereed journals and conference proceedings in Computer Science, Information Science, Information Technology, System Sciences, Mathematics, and Electrical Engineering. Since 2005, he has been serving as the Guest Editor of the special issues of the Journal of Computational Methods in Science and Engineering (JCMSE) published by the IOS Press, the Netherlands.
Professor Debnath has made numerous teaching and research presentations at various national and international conferences, industries, and teaching and research institutions in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. He has been serving as an international teaching and research advisor/coordinator of the Master of Software Engineering Program at the National Universities in Argentina, South America, since 2000. He has offered courses and workshops on Software Engineering and Software Testing at the universities in South America, Asia, and Middle East.
Dr. Debnath served as the General Chair, Program Chair, invited Keynote Speaker, Tutorial Chair, and technical Track or Session Organizer and Chair of the international conferences sponsored by various professional societies including the IEEE, IEEE Computer Society, the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), International Association of Computer and Information Science (ACIS), International Association for Science and Technology in Education (IASTED), Arab Computer Society, and the International Society for Computers and Their Applications (ISCA). Dr. Debnath is a member of the ACM, IEEE Computer Society, Arab Computer Society, and a senior member of the ISCA.
