Testing of Abstract Components

In this paper, we present a conformance testing theory for Barbosa’s abstract components. We do so by defining a trace model for components from causal transfer functions which operate on data flows at discrete instants. This allows us to define a test selection strategy based on test purposes which are defined as subtrees of the execution tree built from the component traces. Moreover, we show in this paper that Barbosa’s definition of components is abstract enough to subsume a large family of state-based formalisms such as Mealy machines, Labeled Transition Systems and Input/Output Labeled Transition Systems. Hence, the conformance theory presented here is a generalization of the standard theories defined for different state-based formalisms and is a key step toward a theory of the test of heterogeneous systems.