Software testing at the architectural level

Abstract

This paper argues that with the advent of explicitly specified software architectures, testing can be done effectively at the architectural level. A software architecture specification provides a solid foundation for developing a plan for testing at this level. We propose several architecture-based test criteria based on the Chemical Abstract Machine model of software architecture. An architectural (integration) test plan, developed by applying selected of these criteria, can be used to assess the architecture itself or to test the implementation's conformance with the architecture. This facilitates detecting defects earlier in the software lifecycle, enables leveraging software testing costs across multiple systems developed from the same architecture, and also leverages the effort put into developing a software architecture.