Dominic Steinhöfel

Teaching by Dominic Steinhöfel

Winter 2021/22

Automated Testing and Debugging

It is estimated that programmers spend half of their time testing and debugging their code.  Wouldn't it be great if computers could help automating these boring tasks?

In this proseminar, we explore and evaluate automated techniques for testing and debugging software.  We look at a number of classic approaches for generating software tests automatically, for finding errors and locating faults, and for having these two interact with each other.  You will be 

• reading the associated papers,
• presenting the associated work,
• possibly even with a demonstration of the technique.

For every technique, we will be providing you with the papers (and a reference or textbook implementation, if available).  For the presentation, we use standard presentation software; for demonstrations, Python and Jupyter Notebooks have shown to be practical.  During the seminar, you will refine your presentation and demonstration skills with us up to the final (and decisive) presentation.

The first part of the seminar consists of ~10 virtual (Zoom) sessions of one hour, with at most one session per week. In each of these sessions, we will have two short presentations and a feedback and discussion round.

In the second part of the seminar, participants will give their final, graded presentations. This part consists of several (at most three) block sessions, which might be held virtually or on-site.

Attendance in all (virtual and on-site) proseminar meetings is mandatory.

Requirements: Programming skills will be required for demonstrations.  Knowledge of Python and experience with Jupyter Notebooks is helpful, but can be acquired during the proseminar.

Registration: To register, use the central system of the CS department.