Software Testing and Quality Assurance
Theory and Practice
Chapter 6
Domain Testing
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 1
Outline of the Chapter
• Domain Error
• Testing for Domain Errors
• Sources of Domains
• Types of Domain Errors
• ON and OFF Points
• Test Selection Criterion
• Summary
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 2
Domain Error
• Two fundamental elements of a program
– Input domain: The set of all input data to the program
– Program path: A sequence of instructions from entry to exit
• Feasible path: If there exists input data which causes the path to
execute.
• Infeasible path: No input data exists to cause the path to execute.
• Howden identified 2 classes of errors by combining input
domain and program paths.
– Computation error
– Domain error
• Computation error
– A computation error occurs when a specific input data causes the
correct path to execute, but the output value is wrong.
• Domain error
– A domain error occurs when a specific input data causes the program
to execute a wrong (i.e. undesired) path.
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 3
Domain Error
• Idea
– An input causes a path to execute.
– Different input data (i.e. a set of inputs) cause the same path to
execute.
– Domain: A domain is a set of input values for which the program
performs the same computation for every member of the set.
– We are interested in maximal domains such that the program
performs different computations in different domains.
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 4
Domain Error
Figure 6.1: Illustration of the concept of program domains.
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 5
Domain Error
• A program is considered as an input classifier.
• A program is said to have a domain error if it incorrectly
performs input classification.
– Wrong classification: This means a wrong path is executed for a
specific input data.
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 6
Testing for Domain Errors
• The idea of domain testing was first studied by White and
Cohen.
• Domain testing differs from control/data flow testing.
• Flashback: control/data flow testing
– Note: No assumption is made about any kind of error in the program.
– Draw a graph – control flow or data flow.
– Select paths based on path selection criteria: statement, branch, all-
use ...
– Generate input data from the selected paths.
• In contrast, in domain testing
– One identifies a category of faults, known as domain errors.
• We will discuss the following.
– Sources of domain
– Types of domain errors
– Selecting test data to reveal domain errors
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 7
Sources of Domains
int codedomain(int x, int y){
int c, d, k
c = x + y;
if (c > 5) d = c - x/2;
else d = c + x/2;
if (d >= c + 2) k = x + d/2;
else k = y + d/4;
return(k);
}
Fig. 6.2: A function to explain program domains.
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 8
Domain Error
Figure 6.3: Control flow graph rep. of the function in Fig. 6.2.
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 9
Domain Error
Figure 6.3: Control flow graph rep. of the function in Fig. 6.2.
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 10
Types of Domain Errors
• Recall that
– A domain is a set of values for which the program performs identical
computations.
– A domain can be represented by a set of predicates. Individual
elements of a domain satisfy the corresponding predicates.
• From a geometrical perspective, a domain is defined by a set
of constraints, called boundary inequalities.
• The properties of a domain are discussed in terms of the
properties of its boundaries.
– Closed boundary
– Open boundary
– Closed domain
– Open domain
– Extreme point
– Adjacent domain
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 11
Types of Domain Errors
• Closed boundary
– A boundary is said to be closed if the points on the boundary are
included in the domain of interest.
• Example: Consider the TT domain in Fig. 6.4 and the boundary
defined by the inequality P2: x ≤ -4. This is a closed boundary of
domain TT.
• Open boundary
– A boundary is said to be open if the points of the boundary do not
belong to the domain of interest.
• Example: Consider the domain TT in Fig. 6.4 and its boundary
defined by the inequality P1: x + y > 5. This is an open boundary
of the domain TT.
• Closed domain
– A domain is said to be closed if all of its boundaries are closed.
• Open domain
– A domain is said to be open if some of its boundaries are open.
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 12
Types of Domain Errors
• Extreme point
– An extreme point is a point where two or more boundaries cross.
• Adjacent domains
– Two domains are said to be adjacent if they have a boundary
inequality in common.
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 13
Types of Domain Errors
• Note
– A program path will have a domain error if there is incorrect
formulation of a path predicate.
– An incorrect predicate expression causes a boundary segment to
• be shifted from its correct position, or
• have an incorrect relational operator
• A domain error can be caused by
– An incorrectly specified predicate, or
– An incorrect assignment which affects a variable used in the
predicate.
• We focus on the following kinds of boundary errors.
– Closure error
– Shifted-boundary error
– Tilted-boundary error
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 14
Types of Domain Errors
• Closure error
– A closure error occurs if a boundary is open when the intention is to
have a closed boundary, or vice versa.
– Example: The relational operator ≤ is implemented as <.
• Shifted-boundary error
– A shifted boundary error occurs when the implemented boundary is
parallel to the intended boundary.
– Example: Let the intended boundary be x + y > 4, whereas the actual
boundary is x + y > 5.
• Tilted-boundary error
– A tilted-boundary error occurs if the constant coefficients of the
variables in a predicate defining a boundary take up wrong values.
– Example: Let the intended boundary be x + 0.5*y > 5, whereas the
actual boundary is x + y > 5.
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 15
ON and OFF Points
• Idea
– Data points on or near a boundary are most sensitive to domain
errors.
– Sensitive means a data point falling in the wrong domain.
– The objective is to identify the data points most sensitive to domain
errors so that errors can be detected by examining the program with
those input values.
– Based on the above idea, we define two kinds of data points: ON and
OFF.
• ON point
– It is a point on the boundary or very close to the boundary.
• If a point can be chosen to lie exactly on the boundary, then
choose it. This requires the boundary inequality to have an exact
solution.
• If an inequality leads to an approximate solution, choose a point
very close to the boundary.
• OFF point
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 16
ON and OFF Points
• ON point
– It is a point on the boundary or very close to the boundary.
• If a point can be chosen to lie exactly on the boundary, then
choose it. This requires the boundary inequality to have an exact
solution.
• If an inequality leads to an approximate solution, choose a point
very close to the boundary.
– Example: Consider the boundary x + 7*y ≥ 6.
• For x = -1, the predicate gives us an exact solution of y = 1.
Therefore the point (-1, 1) lies on the boundary.
• For x = 0, the predicate leads us to an approximate solution y =
0.8571428… . Since y does not have an exact solution, we can
truncate it to 0.857 or round it off to 0.858. Notice that (0, 0.857)
does not satisfy the predicate, whereas (0, 0.858) does satisfy.
Thus, (0, 0.858) is an ON point which lies very close to the
boundary. And, the on point lies outside the domain.
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 17
ON and OFF Points
• OFF point
– An OFF point of a boundary lies away from the boundary.
– While choosing an OFF point, we must consider whether the boundary
is open or closed w.r.t. the domain of interest.
• Open: An OFF point of the boundary is an interior point inside the
domain within an ε-distance from the boundary. (ε ≡ small)
• Closed: An OFF point of that boundary is an exterior point outside
the boundary with an ε-distance.
– Example (Closed): Consider a domain D1 with a boundary x + 7*y ≥ 6.
An OFF point lies outside the domain. (-1, 0.99) lies outside D1.
– Example (Open): Consider a domain D2 that is adjacent to D1 above
with an open boundary x + 7*y < 6. (-1, 0.99) lies inside D2.
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 18
ON and OFF Points
• Summary of ON and OFF points
– For a closed boundary: an ON point lies within the domain of interest,
whereas an OFF point lies in an adjacent domain.
– For an open boundary, an ON point lies in an adjacent domain,
whereas an OFF point lies within the domain of interest.
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 19
ON and OFF Points
Figure 6.6: ON and OFF points.
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 20
Test Selection Criterion
• Selection criterion: For each domain and for each boundary
– select three points A, C, and B in an ON-OFF-ON sequence.
• We will consider the following kinds of errors.
– Closed inequality boundary
• 1.a Boundary shift resulting in a reduced domain
• 1.b Boundary shift resulting in an enlarged domain
• 1.c Boundary tilt
• 1.d Closure error
– Open inequality boundary
• 2.a Boundary shift resulting in a reduced domain
• 2.b Boundary shift resulting in an enlarged domain
• 2.c Boundary tilt
• 2.d Closure error
– Equality boundary
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Test Selection Criterion
• Closed inequality boundary
– 1.a Boundary shift resulting in a
reduced domain
Test Actual Expecte Fault
data output d output detected
A f1(A) f1(A) No
B f1(B) f1(B) No
C f2(C) f1(C) Yes
Figure 6.7: Boundary shift resulting in Table 6.2: Detection of boundary
a reduced domain (closed shift resulting in a reduced
inequality). domain (closed inequality).
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 22
Test Selection Criterion
• Closed inequality boundary
– 1.b Boundary shift resulting in an
enlarged domain
Test Actual Expected Fault
data output output detected
A f1(A) f2(A) Yes
B f1(B) f2(B) Yes
C f2(C) f2(C) No
Figure 6.8: Boundary shift resulting in Table 6.3: Detection of boundary
an enlarged domain (closed shift resulting in an enlarged
inequality). domain (closed inequality).
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 23
Test Selection Criterion
• Closed inequality boundary
– 1.c Tilted boundary
Test Actual Expected Fault
data output output detected
A f1(A) f1(A) No
B f1(B) f2(B) Yes
C f2(C) f2(C) No
Figure 6.9: Tilted boundary (closed
Table 6.4: Detection of tilted
inequality).
boundary (closed inequality).
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 24
Test Selection Criterion
• Closed inequality boundary
– 1.d Closure error
Test Actual Expected Fault
data output output detected
A f2(A) f1(A) Yes
B f2(B) f1(B) Yes
C f1(C) f1(C) No
Figure 6.10: Closure error (closed Table 6.5: Detection of closure error
inequality).
(closed inequality).
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 25
Test Selection Criterion
• Open inequality boundary
– 2.a Boundary shift resulting in a
reduced domain
Test Actual Expected Fault
data output output detected
A f2(A) f1(A) Yes
B f2(B) f1(B) Yes
C f1(C) f1(C) No
Figure 6.11: Boundary shift resulting Table 6.6: Detection of boundary
in a reduced domain (open shift resulting in a reduced
inequality). domain (open inequality).
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 26
Test Selection Criterion
• Open inequality boundary
– 2.b Boundary shift resulting in an
enlarged domain Test Actual Expected Fault
data output output detected
A f2(A) f2(A) No
B f2(B) f2(B) No
C f1(C) f2(C) Yes
Figure 6.12: Boundary shift resulting Table 6.7: Detection of boundary
in an enlarged domain (open
shift resulting in an enlarged
inequality).
domain (open inequality).
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 27
Test Selection Criterion
• Open inequality boundary
– 2.c Tilted boundary
Test Actual Expected Fault
data output output detected
A f2(A) f1(A) Yes
B f2(B) f2(B) No
C f1(C) f1(C) No
Figure 6.13: Tilted boundary (open Table 6.8: Detection of tilted boundary
inequality). (open inequality).
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 28
Test Selection Criterion
• Open inequality boundary
– 2.d Closure error
Test Actual Expected Fault
data output output detected
A f1(A) f2(A) Yes
B f1(B) f2(B) Yes
C f2(C) f2(C) No
Figure 6.14: Closure error (open Table 6.9: Detection of closure error
inequality).
(open inequality).
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Test Selection Criterion
• Equality border
Figure 6.15: Equality border
Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 30
Summary
• Concepts
– Two kinds of program error: computation errors and domain errors
– Domain: A set of inputs for which the program executes the same
path.
– Domain error: A domain error occurs when an input value causes the
program to execute the wrong path.
– A program is viewed as an input classifier. It classifies the input into a
set of (sub)domains such that the program executes a different path
for each domain.
– Each domain is identified by a set of boundaries, and each boundary
is expressed as a boundary condition.
– Properties of boundaries: closed, open, closed domain, …
– Three kinds of boundary errors were identified.
– closure error, shifted boundary, tilted boundary
– ON and OFF points
• Test selection criterion: For each domain and for each
boundary, select three points A, C, and B in an ON-OFF-ON
sequence. Software Testing and QA Theory and Practice (Chapter 6: Domain Testing) © Naik & Tripathy 31
