University of Sheffield

CatWalk: unit testing for Java

Lazy systematic unit testing for agile methods
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Publications

This is a list of publications related to Lazy Systematic Testing. It includes papers on the inadequacy of regression testing, and on the development of the tools JWalk and its successor CatWalk.

Failure of Regression Testing
A. J. H. Simons, Testing with guarantees and the failure of regression testing in eXtreme Programming, Proc. 6th Int. Conf. on eXtreme Programming and Agile Processes in Software Engineering (XP 2005), in: eds. H Baumeister et al., Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 3556, (Berlin: Springer Verlag, 2005), 118-126.
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/11499053_14. Repository Version, Springer Version.
A. J. H. Simons, A theory of regression testing for behaviourally compatible object types, rev. and ext., Software Testing, Verification and Reliability, 16 (3), UKTest 2005 Special Issue, September, eds. M Woodward, P. McMinn, M. Holcombe, R. Hierons (London: John Wiley, 2006), 133-156.
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/stvr.349. Repository Version, Wiley Version.

Lazy Systematic Testing
A. J. H. Simons, JWalk: a tool for lazy systematic testing of Java classes by introspection and user interaction, Automated Software Engineering, 14 (4), December, ed. B. Nuseibeh (New York: Springer, 2007), 369-418.
DOI 10.1007/s10515-007-0015-3. Repository Version, Springer Version.
A. J. H. Simons and C. D. Thomson, Benchmarking Effectiveness for Object-Oriented Unit Testing, Proc. 1st Software Testing Benchmark Workshop (TESTBENCH08), eds. M. Roper and W. M. L. Holcombe. In: 2008 IEEE International Conference on Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshops, 9-11 April, Lillehammer, Norway, (Lillehammer: IEEE, 2008), 375-379.
DOI 10.1109/ICSTW.2008.10. Repository Version, IEEE Explore Version.
A. J. H. Simons, N. Griffiths and C. D. Thomson, Feedback-based specification, coding and testing with JWalk, Proc 3rd. Testing: Academic and Industrial Conference - Practice and Research Techniques, 29-31 August, eds. M. Roper, G. M. Kapfhammer and L. Bottaci, (Cumberland Lodge, Windsor Great Park: IEEE, 2008), 69-73.
ISBN 978-0-7695-3383-4. Repository Version, Slide Player, IEEE Digital Library.
A. J. H. Simons and W. W. Zhao, Dynamic analysis of algebraic structure to optimize test generation and test case selection, Proc 4th. Testing: Academic and Industrial Conference: Practice and Research Techniques, 4-6 September, eds. N Walkinshaw, G M Kapfhammer and L Bottaci, (Cumberland Lodge, Windsor Great Park: IEEE, 2009), 33-42.
ISBN 978-0-7695-3820-4. Repository Version, CORE Version, IEEE Digital Library.
A. J. H. Simons, CatWalk: Lazy systematic testing of the Complete Behavioural Response, Software Testing, Verification and Reliability, under review. (London: John Wiley, 2025).
ISSN 1099-1689 (online), 0960-0833 (print).

Testing Tool Comparisons
A. J. H. Simons and C. D. Thomson, Lazy systematic unit testing: JWalk versus JUnit, Proc 2nd. Testing: Academic and Industrial Conference - Practice and Research Techniques, 22-24 September, eds. P McMinn and M Harman, (Cumberland Lodge, Windsor Great Park: IEEE, 2007), 138.
ISBN 1-5090-8503-3. CiteSeer Version, Conference Poster, IEEE Digital Library.
N. Smeets and A. J. H. Simons, Automated unit testing with Randoop, JWalk and μJava versus manual JUnit testing, Research Report, Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield (Sheffield, 2011).
Semantic Scholar, Sheffield Version.

Industry Testing Articles
M. Holcombe, Testing Java programs the easy way, TEST Magazine, October (ThirtyOne Media, 2012), 27. TEST Magazine.
A. Marshall, The 8 useful Java testing tools (& frameworks) for programmers, developers and coders, Java PDF Blog, 12 February (IDR Solutions, 2015).
IDR Solutions, Blog.

Wikipedia Articles
JWalk unit testing tool for Java. Wikipedia Page.
Lazy systematic testing. Wikipedia Page.