Thread: Syntax Testing and LCSAJ Testing

Hi All,

Please suggest me
1) whether the Syntax Testing is White box testing or Black box testing.
2) Also, what is LCSAJ testing.

Regards
--Ashish

1) Syntax teting is power software testing technique for testing command driven softeware and similar application.


2) LCSAJ menas A Linear Code Sequence And Jump, consisting of the following three items (conventionally identified by line numbers in a source code listing): the start of the linear sequence of executable statements, the end of the linear sequence, and the target line to which control flow is transferred at the end of the linear sequence.

LCSAJ testing is a test case design technique for a component in which test cases are designed to execute LCSAJs.

An LCSAJ is defined as unbroken linear sequence of statements: (a) which begins at either the start of the program or a point to which the control flow may jump, (b) which ends at either the end of the program or a point from which the control flow may jump, (c) and the point to which a jump is made following the sequence.

LCSAJ coverage = I/L where: I = Number of LCSAJs exercised at least once. L = Total number of LCSAJs.

LCSAJs depends on the topology of a module's design and not just its semantics, they do not map onto code structures such as branches and loops. LCSAJs are not easily identifiable from design documentation. They can only be identified once code has already been written. LCSAJs are consequently not easily comprehensible.

Regards,
Sridevichitthu

Hi Sridevi,

Thanks for the answers given by u.
Now, its clear that LCSAJ Testing is white box testing. But I have a doubt regarding the Syntax testing, its difficult to infer whether ir is black box testing or the white box.
Please suggest.

Regards
Ashish Arora

Hi ashish,
syntax testing is blackbox testing.
Uses the syntax of the components inputs as the basis for the design of the testcase.

Hi hiashish12,

I read from on eof the link about Syntax testing ,Hope this would clarify your doubts

Syntax testing is a static,black box testing technique for protocol implementations.Beizer proposes that one specify the syntax for the Protocol in a convenient notation such as BNF( Backnus-Naur Form).Mutations are then made to the syntactic elements,and the modified grammar is used to produce aberrant test vectors.

Beizer suggests using an "Anti-parser" to compile the grammar to produce "Structured gargabe".He also suggests targeting one field of the input at a time at first,and then designing test cases with combinations of input.

As in other balck box testing technicques sysntax testing does not have a clear stopping criterion.Test Engineers have to use their experience,common sense or time/cost constriants while designing the test suite.

Thanks,
Sridevichitthu

Hi Sridevi,

Thanks for putting effort.

Regards,
Ganesh

hi Sridevi,

Now, I got the point, thanks for helping !!!

Regards
--Ashish

Hi,
I think Syntax testing is a part of unit testing.
So this has to be done by the developer before the release or the build deployed to the QA Environment to further testing.

Syntax testing is black box testing and LCSAJ testing is Whitebox testing.

1) syntax testing is a strong black box testing technique. 2) lcsaj stands for liner codes sequence and jump which is a part of white box testing

thank u ppl..

Hello,
Do you know about any tool to measure LCSAJ coverage?? Please anybody tell me.

SYNTAX Testing is a Black Box testing.
Syntax Testing, a black box testing technique, involves testing the System inputs and it is usually automated because syntax testing produces a large number of tests. Internal and external inputs have to conform the below formats:

Format of the input data from users.

1 File formats.

2 Database schema.


LCSAJ - This stands for Linear Code Sequence and Jump (LCSAJ) coverage. This is actually a neat concept but in today's high paced development environments, very few shops will dedicate the time to do this properly because it takes a lot of time to execute completely (it is typically done in mission critical systems and life threatening environments where the code has to work or someone could actually die). The idea is that when you are testing your application/code, you are actually exercising every deviation that the code should have been setup for. LCSAJ should be a combination of both Unit Level testing (by the developer) and QA Testing which would be covered across the various test phases of Functional, Regression and System/Integration testing. Part of the reason for developer responsibility is because you have to have an intimate understanding of how the code is setup because with this type of testing, the intent is to exercise every aspect of the code. The main coverage areas are:

Function coverage - Has each function (or subroutine) in the program been called and exercised?
Statement coverage - Have all the various lines of code in the program been executed?
Condition/Decision coverage - Have all branching components of all the various decision statements in your code been executed? The code will be full of conditional statements (IF and CASE statements) and looping statements (For loops, Do Loops) and they will all have conditional criteria as to whether they will be entered, how long they will be executed for and the criteria to either exit the code or bypass the code.
Condition coverage (or predicate coverage) - Exercising all the boolean sub-expressions for both true and false logic.
Parameter Value Coverage - This involves calling code with parameters along with Functions & Subroutines that have parameters and making sure that all values for such parameter has been exercised.

Here is an answer to your query. Please check this link - bit.ly/1QRYUle