sss ssss rrrrrrrrrrr
ssss ss rrrr rrrr
sssss s rrrr rrrr
ssssss rrrr rrrr
ssssssss rrrr rrrr
ssssss rrrrrrrrr
s ssssss rrrr rrrr
ss sssss rrrr rrrr
sss sssss rrrr rrrr
s sssssss rrrrr rrrrr
+===================================================+
+======= Testing Techniques Newsletter (TTN) =======+
+======= ON-LINE EDITION =======+
+======= September 1999 =======+
+===================================================+
TESTING TECHNIQUES NEWSLETTER (TTN), Online Edition, is E-mailed monthly
to support the Software Research, Inc. (SR)/TestWorks user community and
to provide information of general use to the worldwide software quality
and testing community.
Permission to copy and/or re-distribute is granted, and secondary
circulation is encouraged by recipients of TTN-Online provided that the
entire document/file is kept intact and this complete copyright notice
appears with it in all copies. (c) Copyright 2003 by Software Research,
Inc.
========================================================================
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
o Quality Week Europe 1999 -- Conference Details
o Special Issue of the "International Journal of Computer Research"
o TestWorks Corner: Simple, Powerful Scripts with CAPBAK/Web
o It's Just the First Slip..., by Johanna Rothman
o Ieuan E. Jones -- In Memorial
o EuroSPI'99 Conference: European Software Process Improvement
o Klingon Programmers Unite!
o Call for Papers: The 1st International Workshop on Real-Time
Mission-Critical Systems: Grand Challenge Problems
o SERG Report 378: Semantic Equality of Tables Ms. Kavitha
Nadarajah
o The Theory and Practice of Stealthy Hacker Attacks
o System Testing Horror Stories Wanted
o Is This A Genuine Y2K Fix? Opinions Invited!
o TTN SUBMITTAL, SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
========================================================================
Q U A L I T Y W E E K E U R O P E ' 9 9
(QWE'99, 1-5 Nov, Brussels, Belgium)
PRICES INCREASE 1 OCTOBER -- REGISTER NOW!
The QWE'99 Conference and Tools Expo is the perfect opportunity to
sharpen your skills, learn about the latest tools and techniques, and
network with peers and the leading experts of the industry -- all in the
effort to make your work easier, more efficient and more productive.
Here are some of the things QWE'99 has to offer:
* INTERNATIONAL EVENT: With 60 speakers from every continent, QWE'99
is representative of a truly international event. The topics are
in-depth and will encompass the broad range of software and web
quality issues to satisfy every professional.
* BONUS CONFERENCES: (included in your registration fee)
> "European Issues"
Roadmaps for SPI, Pedro Gutierrez
Achieving Business Excellence in SPI, L. Buglione & E. Ostolaza
Improving Software Documentation, P. Moro & A. Cicu
How to Test the EURO Effectively, A. Rudolf & R. Pirker
How to Apply for Funding from the IST Program, Otto Vinter
> "The Web"
Ensuring Consistent Web Site Performance, Scott Yara
E-Commerce Reliability and Web Testing, Edward Miller
e-Commerce Functional Testing and Performance Benchmarking,
Steven Rabin
Effective Testing for Java-Based Web Software, Jeff Schuster
Seven Views to WebSite Quality Modeling and Assessment, H.L.
Hausen
E-Commerce: Where Application Testing Means Staying in Business,
E. Kanaan
> "PIE/SPIE Issues"
This is a special session addressing PIE/SPIE issues. Final
speaker list available at conference.
* COMPREHENSIVE TOOLS EXPO: Plan to see the latest, state-of-the-art
Tools & Services with the following vendors: CMG*, Computer
Associates International, ErgoLight, Gitek*, Integri, IQUIP*, IPL,
McCabe & Associates, Mercury Interactive*, Q-Labs, ps_testware*,
Rational Software, QualityHouse*, Reasoning*, Software Research,
Inc.*, and more! (* denotes QWE'99 Sponsors)
* PRICING: The registration prices for QWE'99 are slightly below other
conferences its kind, yet QWE'99 is all-inclusive. Without
sacrificing quality (since the program is extraordinary and has the
most current topics), you will get the most for your money at QWE'99!
* DOWNLOADABLE BROCHURE: If you have not received your QWE'99
brochure, please download it in *.PDF or *.PS format from our web
site:
<http://www.soft.com/QualWeek/QWE99/qwe99.down.brochure.html>
To request a brochure, or to have your question answered, send email to
.
To Register for QWE'99, go to:
<http://www.soft.com/QualWeek/qwe99.register.html>
========================================================================
Special Issue of the "International Journal of Computer Research"
(http://www.softlab.ntua.gr/~mastor/IJCR.htm) on
INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS OF PARALLEL COMPUTING
Parallel scientific and engineering computing is becoming of paramount
importance in several industrial applications, especially when the
solution of large and complex problems must cope with harder and harder
time scheduling.
In this special issue, we would like to report on relevant research
representing the state-of-the-art in the following areas of parallel
computing:
1. parallel and distributed combinatorial and global optimization
methods, as applied to industrial/practical problems
2. parallel and distributed computing techniques and software systems,
as applied to industrial/practical problems
The application areas are to be understood very broadly and include, but
are not limited to: databases, computational fluid mechanics, structural
engineering, computational chemistry, electronic and electromagnetic
circuits, signal and image processing, etc.
Electronic submission to one of the editors of the special issue (please
contact the editor to discuss the technical details of submission) is
preferred. In case of hard-copy submission, please contact an editor for
more details.
In case an extremely large number of high quality submissions are
obtained a publication of a volume in the "Advances in Computation:
Theory and Practice" book-series will be considered.
Special Issue editors:
Marcin Paprzycki
University of Southern Mississippi, USA
Email: m.paprzycki@usm.edu
Luciano Tarricone
University of Perrugia, Italy
Email:tarricone@istel.ing.unipg.it
Laurence T. Yang
St. Francis Xavier University, Canada
Email: lyang@juliet.stfx.ca
========================================================================
TestWorks Corner: Simple, Powerful Scripts with CAPBAK/Web
One of the goals we have in our continuing development of WebSite
testing technology is to make the work as simple as it can possibly be.
We want to make testing WebSites as easy as using a browser.
Here are two example applications, excerpted from CAPBAK/Web user
documentation, that illustrate how powerful a simple CAPBAK/Web session
can be.
HOW TO TIME YOUR SERVER'S RESPONSE TIME FROM A REALISTIC CLIENT
Go to any page on your website that is typical of where you start your
"normal work". What you want to do is record what a user actuallly
does, and then use the recording to both confirm operation of the site
and learn how fast [or slow] your website is running.
> Click on View, then Click On Keysave File
Now you can see your recording as you create it.
> Click on Start Recording
This opens your recording.
> Click on Timer, and then click on Reset Timer
This resets the clock.
> Click on the selected page, just as you would if you were browsing
the web.
The creates a recording of everythign that you do.
> Make sure that you navigate back to the starting location
This make sure that your test script is 100% repeatable
> Click on Timer, and then click on Read Timer
This reads the clock so you know how long the playback took.
> Click on Stop Recording
Now your recording is closed, ready to play back.
> Click on View, then Click On Timing Log
This opens a window that lets you see the timer output.
> Click on Start Playback.
Watch the sequence of screens go by, and read the total time off
the Timing Log display.
It's as simple as that! You've timed your server's response time.
HOW TO CHECK LINKS ON A PAGE
Here is a very simple set of steps you can use to illustrate the power
of CAPBAK/Web in improving the quality of your website. A common
problem is that a page with a lot of links might have one or two that
are "broken".
Go to any page on your website that has a lot of links that you are not
sure are working. Your very simple recording, using the CAPBAK/Web
"Link Wizard", will simply go to all of the links; it's easy to see
failures (and they are noted in the Error Log).
> Click on View, then Click On Keysave File
Now you can see your recording as you create it.
> Click on Start Recording
This opens your recording.
> Click on Wizards --> Link Wizard
This adds a test of every link on the page into your recording.
(There are some internal limits to the number of links you can
show, but if you have less than 1000 you should be ok.)
> Click on Stop Recording
Now your recording is closed, and you're ready to play back.
> Click on View, then Click On Messages
This opens a window that lets you see errors [if any] as they are
generated.
> Click on Start Playback.
Watch the sequence of screens come up in the browser, and note any
error messages. You can save the Messages file if you want a
permanent record.
It's as simple as that!
To find out how you can download your own copy of CAPBAK/Web, or learn
about other parts of our new WebSite testing cluster of products and
services, go to:
<http://www.soft.com/Solutions/ecommerce.html>
or send email to .
========================================================================
It's Just the First Slip...
by
Johanna Rothman
Rothman Consulting Group, Inc.
jr@jrothman.com
http://www.jrothman.com
I recently read an article by a well-known author. He claimed that your
first project slip isn't so bad; the third or fourth project slips are
the bad ones.
In my mind, red flags went up. I flipped the bozo bit on the author. I
completely disagree with his conclusion.
The first slip is your initial indication something is wrong. Don't
expect you can make up time in your project. You can't. You can use the
first slip to take a step back and observe what's going on vs. what
you'd like to have going on. When you hit the third or fourth slip,
you've lost the schedule battle.
When software projects start to slip, they're talking to you, the
project manager. The first slip is a whisper: "Your expectation is not
matching my reality. Listen to me, I can tell you my reality." If you
ignore the first slip, the second slip is a murmur: "Things aren't quite
right. Don't you want to know what's going on?" At the third slip, the
project says: "Knock-knock. Are you there? Don't you want to know
what's going on?" At the fourth slip, the project yells: "Hey, you! You
didn't listen to me when you could take action. Now, get out the Tums.
You'll pay for this."
I prefer to have projects whisper to me. (Otherwise people think I'm
crazy when I yell back at my projects.) If you and your project agree on
reality at early stages, you can make small adjustments with big
results.
I recently worked with a company just before they planned to ship a Beta
release. They were having trouble getting the software ready, and they
wanted help getting the work done, so they could meet their Beta date.
I was ready with questions about the schedule, defect data, the testing,
how the developers integrated the code. Luckily, we talked about
schedule first. "Oh, we planned the schedule six months ago. We haven't
changed it." I asked if they had met their milestone dates. "Well, not
really. We missed the first deadline. The requirements weren't done, but
we had to get started, so we started designing without knowing all the
requirements." This is risky, but not a Terrible Thing, especially if
they planned to manage the risks. I asked about the other milestones.
"Well, since the requirements weren't done, we couldn't finish the
design on time. Since the design wasn't done, the coding was a little
late." The first slip cascaded into slips for every other milestone.
Then I asked what turned out to be the key question: "When did the
testers know what to test, if the requirements, design, and
implementation were a little late?" The answer I got was "Last week."
Uh oh. I asked one more question: "How much testing did you plan for
this project?" They looked at each other, and said "Oh we planned to do
about 6 weeks worth, but I guess we won't get to that now, will we?"
These people were not stupid. It's important to emphasize that. They had
a simple problem with a huge cascading effect: the first slip led to
more slips. Then they had trouble hearing the reality of their project.
They started with a small slip, but because they kept going, the small
slip magnified the effect of later slips. If they had stopped at the
time of the first slip, and replanned their work, or replanned the
schedule, they might have been able to meet their hoped-for Beta date.
Now their only option was to extend the schedule.
Slips tell you valuable information about your project. Something is not
going according to plan. Before the something turns into lots of things,
have a heart-to-heart discussion with your project.
========================================================================
Ieuan E. Jones -- In Memorial
We received the following news last week about Ieuan E.Jones.
"Hello, I am Ian Blower, Ieuan's brother in law. I am e-
mailing you on Anne's behalf.
Ieuan unfortunately died last night (Thursday 16 September
1999) at around 6 PM. His body could not fight any longer
and he slipped away. There is a detailed medical
explanation, which if he were giving it would undoubtedly
contain lots of jargon and far too many words, but suffice
it to say, his organs could no longer cope. He had been
sedated for some time, so probably wasn't aware of exactly
what was going on. He was also in no pain - the nurses said
that the drugs they were giving him would give him a "warm,
fuzzy feeling."
The funeral will be held in Shrivenham [Wiltshire, England]
at the St. Andrews church at 1 PM on Thursday the 23rd of
September, with the interment afterwards. We aim to have a
get together afterwards in the Prince of Wales Pub. (We
haven't asked them yet, but I'm sure it won't be a problem!)
If there is a change, we will make an announcement in the
church. If you can make it, you would be very welcome, but
if not, have a small drink and toast to the fact he's got
some peace at last."
Ieuan was a speaker at QW'98 and a frequent contributor in many forums
to the software testing and quality control community. His bout with
cancer began about the time of QW'98, but even though ill he attended
QW'98 and presented his paper. He fought his cancer every bit of the
way. His resolve and uncommon courage, his persistent goodwill, and his
genuine positivism will long be remembered among those who knew him.
His life is an example to us all. -EFM
========================================================================
EuroSPI'99 Conference
European Software Process Improvement
Theme: "Learn from the Past - Experience the Future"
25-27 October 1999
Pori School of Technology & Economics, Pohjoisranta 11, Pori, FINLAND
Conference Web Site : http://www.bigfoot.com/~EuroSPI
Organized by
DELTA (http://www.delta.dk), IVF (http://www.ivf.se),
ISCN (http://www.iscn.ie, SINTEF (http://www.sintef.no),
STTF (http://www.sttf.fi)
Note: Special thanks to the European Commission which has supported the
integration of PIEs into this conference.
Key Notes
Mrs. Kim Caputo is the author of CMM Implementation Guide:
Choreographing Software Process Improvement published by Addison Wesley
Longman. She is currently the Business Excellence Manager for software
development at Unisys Corporation, where she has worked with large and
small projects, leading improvement efforts, action planning, defining
processes, and delivering training for the past decade.
Mrs Giselle Roesems is a representative from the European Commission DG
XIII, and she will present the chances and opportunities in the new 5th
framework program of the European Union. In particular, as the call for
take up activities will be open, it would be specifically addressed.
Mr Pekka Hintikka, Nokia Communications Finland, is the director for
software development at Nokia, and he will present process improvement
experiences at Nokia.
Key notes are organized as plenary sessions and open the days 1 and 2 of
the conference.
Tutorial Day, Monday 25 October 1999
There are 4 parallel morning and 4 parallel afternoon tutorials.
Attendees pay one tutorial day fee and can freely walk between the
tutorials. For two of the tutorials (one selected morning and one
selected afternoon tutorial) attendees receive full hand-outs. For these
two tutorials please register in the registration form.
Tutorial 1: Root Cause Analysis
Tor Stalhane, Kari Juul Wedde, Tore Dyba, SINTEF (Norway) : Identifying
the most important problems and attack their root causes by combining
data collection, Pareto analysis and Ishikawa diagrams.
Tutorial 2 : Experience with Role and Teamwork Based SPI
Richard Messnarz, ISCN (Ireland), Gabor Nadasi, ISCN (Austria): People
involvement in SPI, learning aspects, and how to build a learning
environment, teamwork models, and network based strategies for
cooperation
Tutorial 3 : Action Planning Techniques for SPI
Kim Caputo, UNISYS Corporation (USA) : Experiences, steps, pitfalls,
and lessons learned
Tutorial 4 : Better Requirements
Jan Pries-Heje, DELTA (Denmark) : Experience with software process
improvement focusing on better reqirements engineering methods and
techniques with the purpose of preventing defects
Tutorial 5 : Data Analysis
Tor Stalhane, Kari Juul Wedde, Tore Dyba, SINTEF (Norway) : Data
analysis is a way of making decisions based on data : how to select the
"right method" for analysis, how to draw conclusions and how to assess
risks
Tutorial 6 : Business Thinking and SPI (PICO)
Richard Messnarz, ISCN (Ireland), Miklos Biro, Sztaki (Hungary) : Return
on investment, management decisions problems, multi-criteria decision
making, the role of SPI
Tutorial 7 : SPICE and the Balanced Scorecard Framework
Risto Nevalainen, STTF (Finland) : SPICE and its extensions in Finland
Tutorial 8 : SPI in Regions of Europe (SPIRE)
SPIRE is a recently completed initiative, sponsored by the European
Commission, which helps small software development companies to
implement Software Process Improvement
Conference Day 1, Tuesday 26 October 1999
Conference Opening: Professor H. Jaakkola, Pori School of Technology,
Finland : Towards the best practices in SPI
Key Note Session 1: K. Caputo, Unisys Corporation, USA : Improving the
way we improve the software process
Session Details for Conference Day 1
Session 1: SPI and Strategies
* R. Westgaard,(et.al), Kongsberg Ericsson (Norway):
Process improvement as part of a total improvement strategy
* M. Biro, Sztaki (Hungary), R. Messnarz, ISCN (Ireland):
Key success factors for business based process improvement
* T. Stalhane, SINTEF (Norway):
SPI - why isn't it more used?
* Nancy Eickelmann, NASA (USA):
Software measurement - frameworks to assess the operational and strategic
value of SPI
Session 2: SPI and Testing I
* P. Jorgensen, Kapital IT (Denmark):
The quest for quality test resources, "Quality and efficiency in software
testing by moving the technological boarder", ESSI project QUEST
* F.J. Rodriguez Lopez, ELIOP (Spain):
Software inspection techniques in SMEs, ESSI project TESIS
* M. Prieler, EDV GmbH (Austria): Experience with software testing, metrics
and the introduction of test tools
Session 3: SPI and Re-Use
* R. Torlen, Provida (Norway):
Finding a pratical approach to organized reuse
* W. Daxwanger, SEKAS (Germany):
SEPIOR: Practical experiences with reusable software components in CAM
environments, ESSI project SEPIOR
Session 4: SPI and Requirements Management
* A. Bartocci, CSELT (Italy):
The user requirements elicitation and specification process: deployment of
experiences of the CSELT DOMINO 2.0 methodology
* J. Elliott, DRA (UK): Customer satisfaction through improved requirements
understanding , ESSI project REJOICE
Session 5: SPI and Establishment of Models/Processes I
* J. Plume, Riga Information Technology Institute (Latvia):
Process description and training: the two sides of the SPI ?
* F. Calzolari,E. Cozzio, FTC (Italy):
The impact of a new software development methodology and how to afford the
changing resistance, ESSI project Respect
* M. Willets, (et.al), Salford City Council, P. Kawalek, T. McMaster,
D. Wastell, Univ. of Salford, Manchester and Warwick, (UK), K. Kautz,
Copenhagen Business School (Denmark):
Managing change in the context of software process improvement, ESSI
project CAPELLA
Session 6: SPI and Virtual Team and QA Systems
* J. Lueling, IVM (Germany):
Results from the ESSI Process Improvement Experiment - Virtual Team,
ESSI project VITE
* R. Messnarz, ISCN (Ireland), K. Zesar, Hyperwave, G. Nadasi, ISCN (Austria):
Experience with process improvement collaborations in distributed virtual
work environments
* O. Tejedor, GMV (Spain):
Automating a Quality System - A Network based Approach, ESSI project ACQUASI
Session 7: SPI and Assessments/Evaluations
* A.B. Jakobsen, DELTA (Denmark):
Precise and quick feedback to the project using the TPR-PIF assessment
method
* T.Dyba, (et.al), SINTEF (Norway):
Rethinking the use of software process assessments
* Y. Wang, IVF (Sweden), G. King, Southampton Institute (UK):
Philosophies and approaches to SPI
* J. Gyorkos, (et.al), Univ. of Maribor (Slovenia):
The general effect of an integrated software product evaluation
Session 8: SPI Surveys
* T. Varkoi, (et.al), Tampere Univ. of Technology, (Finland):
Results from the SPIN in Western Finland
* B. Barafort, Centre de Recherche Public Henri Tudor (Luxembourg):
Results of the SPIRAL*NET ESSI ESBNET project
* Z. Mahmood, Univ. of Derby (UK):
Software engineering in the UK - A brief report
* A. Kalja:
SPI in Estonia and Russia
Conference Day 2, Wednesday 27 October 1999
Key Note Session 2: Giselle Roesems, European Commission, DG 13
(Belgium): Chances and opportunities in the new 5th framework program
of the European Union.
Pekka Hintikka, Director Software Development, NOKIA (Finland): Process
improvement experience at NOKIA
Session 9: SPI and Establishment of Processes/Models II
* S. Mazzini, Intecs Sistemi (Italy):
Configuration Management Deployment and Practice Experiment, ESSI project
CMEXP
* D.Scheifele, T. Buerger, ISG (Germany):
Quality Assurance of Numerical Control SW based on Configuration Management,
ESSI project INCOMM
* I. Richardson, (et.al), Univ. of Limerick (Ireland):
Improvement models for small software development companies
* E Arisholm, (et.al), Genera AS, D. Sjaeberg, Univ. of Oslo (Norway):
Improving an evolutionary development process
* F. Marinuzzi (Italy), Rightsizing versus client server with an outsourcing
approach: a case of a big public service organisation
Session 10: SPI and Measurement I
* D. Stasinos, (et.al), Intracom (Greece):
Applying Gilb's method of inspections to telecommunications software
development, ESSI project GINSENG
* H. Meutstege, Centraal Beheer (Netherlands):
Improving the quality of the planning and tracking process, ESSI project
PLANIT
* P. Pongas, Singular (Greece):
Testing and Accompanied Measurements, ESSI project STAMP
* P. Forselius, STTF (Finland): Situational analysis of software projects
- the Key input for SPI
* T. Orci, Royal Inst. of Technology, Univ. of Stockholm:
Software Metrics for Process Improvement Experiments
Session 11: SPI and Measurement II
* R. Sunde, Event AS (Norway):
A statistical approach to support project estimation and management,
ESSI project SUPREME
* C. Giordani, Cortis Lentini (Italy), Introducing Professional Project
Management, ESSI project 27370
* H-J Lied, Telenor (Norway): Experience from process improvement in an SME
* N.B. Svendsen, B-K Medical (Denmark):
Error trending , why and how?
Session 12: SPI and People Management
* G. Evangelisti, (et.al), Ericsson Telecomunicazioni (Italy):
People management and development process to motivate, develop and retain
the best resources
* Bestregit Consortium (Austria, Ireland, Spain):
A learning organisation approach for SPI
* K. Siakas, Univ. of North London (UK):
Process improvement: the societal iceberg
* Y. Wang, IVF (Sweden), H. Duncan, DCU (Ireland): IPSSI:
An European methodology on PSP
Session 13: SPI and object orientation
* A. Goerges,Minsheng Liu, Huengsberg AG (Germany):
Improvement of the quality in the software development process by Execution
of ESSI project OFTPIVE. (UML Introduction)
* M. Dresselhaus, Reis Robotics (Germany):
Improvement of extendibility and modifiability of embedded software through
application of object-oriented design, ESSI project EMESO
Session 14: SPI and Testing II
* M. Blaszczyk, Dakosy (Germany):
Improvement of development process through enhanced test procedures and
change request management, ESSI project ImproveTCR
* A. Gonzalez Iglesias, Sainsel (Spain):
Improvement of testing process through systematisation for increasing
software manufacturing assurance, ESSI project TERRA FIRMA
The conference is held at Pori School of Technology and Economics (PSTE)
located by the river in a renovated 19th century Cotton Mill, 700m from
the city center.
<http://www.pori.tut.fi/english/>
Conference Secretariat:
Web Site: <http://www.bigfoot.com/~EuroSPI>
EuroSPI Conference Secretariat
c/o International Software Consulting Network
Co-ordination Office
Florence House, 1 Florence Villas
Bray, Co. Wicklow
email: office@iscn.ie
Fax. +353 1 286 5078
========================================================================
Klingon Programmers Unite!
Things likely to be overheard if you have a Klingon for a programmer:
"Specifications are for the weak and timid!"
"This machine is a piece of GAGH! I need dual Pentium III 500 MHz
processors if I am to do battle with this code!"
"You cannot really appreciate Dilbert unless you read it in the
original Klingon"
"Indentation! -- I will show you how to indent when I indent your
skull!"
"What is this talk of "release"? Klingons do not make software
"releases". Our software "escapes" leaving a bloody trail of
designers and quality assurance people in its wake."
"Klingon function calls do not have "parameters" -- they have
"arguments" and they ALWAYS WIN THEM."
"Debugging? Klingons do not debug! Our software does not coddle
the weak."
"I have challenged the entire quality assurance team to a Bat-Leth
contest. They will not concern us again."
"A TRUE Klingon warrior does not comment his code!"
"By filing this bug report you have challenged the honor of my
family. Prepare to die!"
"You question the worthiness of my code? I should kill you where
you stand!"
"Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it!
Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!"
========================================================================
CALL FOR PAPERS
The 1st International Workshop on Real-Time Mission-Critical Systems:
Grand Challenge Problems
November 30, 1999; Phoenix, Arizona USA
This is the first in a series of symposia to address the technological
challenges of engineering large, complex real-time mission-critical
systems (RTMCSs). Real-time systems are those which are time-
constrained. Mission-critical systems are those which have important
strategic roles within an enterprise; success or failure of the
enterprise is linked strongly to success or failure of the mission-
critical system. To establish the focus of the RTMCS community, the
workshop theme will be Grand Challenge Problems. Approximately = of the
program will be dedicated to real-time mission-critical application
systems which present grand challenges, and = of the program will focus
on grand challenge technology problems.
The symposium agenda will include presentations that define grand
challenge problems by describing the problem requirements and
identifying current technological challenges presented by the problems.
Additionally, a representative of the IEEE Technical Committee on Real-
Time Systems will present Grand Challenge Problems identified in a
recent practitioner survey. Potential presenters are invited to submit
a 1-5 page description of a grand challenge problem and its
technological challenges. All submissions must relate clearly to a
specific real-world application. Submissions should be made in
electronic form to one of the Workshop Chairs by Sept. 15, 1999.
Authors will be notified of review decisions by Oct. 15, 1999, and
camera-ready papers will be due by Nov. 5, 1999.
Topics of interest for grand challenge real-time mission-critical
application systems include:
* Space Systems, Air Traffic Control, Avionics, and Air Defense
* Telecommunications and Mobile Computing
* Automotive and Transportation
* Plant and Process Control
* Medical
* Signal Processing
* Command and Control
* Surveillance
* Weapons Control
* Fire Support Coordination
Topics of interest pertaining to grand challenge technology problems include:
* Networking, Fault Tolerance, and Security
* System Composition
* Support for Dynamic and Stochastic Real-time Systems
* Distributed Resource Management
* System Engineering, System Certification
Workshop Chairs
Michael W. Masters
Code B35
The Naval Surface Warfare Center
MastersMW@nswc.navy.mil
Lonnie R. Welch
Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Ohio University
welch@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu
========================================================================
SERG Report 378: Semantic Equality of Tables,
Ms. Kavitha Nadarajah
Below, is an abstract from a report recently completed by
McMaster University's Software Engineering Group. The
reports are no longer listed as CRL Reports, but as SERG
Reports (Software Engineering Research Group).
This thesis presents an algorithm to determine semantic equality of two
given tables used in software documentations.
Tabular notation is seen to be a useful method for formal specification
of software systems {Parnas92}. Verification of the software
specification is an important part of software life cycle when software
is used in safety critical environments. Industries such as Ontario
Hydro invest time and money to ensure that their design of safety
critical software corresponds to specification {Viola95}.
In this thesis we present an algorithm to verify whether two given
tabular expressions specify the same relation. This algorithm is useful
in verifying whether the design corresponds to specification. This
algorithm handles all tables described in {Abraham97}. We also present
the design of a prototype tool which implements this algorithm, which
can help us automate the verification of software design.
The web address for downloading reports is:
<http://www.crl.mcmaster.ca/SERG/serg.publications.html>
========================================================================
The Theory and Practice of Stealthy Hacker Attacks
<http://www.securityfocus.com>
This well written piece lays out the extremely sophisticated methods
used by actual hackers to penetrate sites. The author works for a
security company and uses honey pots, systems placed on the network
specifically to attract cracking attempts, in a systematic study of
attacks The document bluntly and chillingly implies that any determined
and sophisticated hacker _will_ penetrate your network and you'll never
know it. Jot this down as required reading for all site owners,
particularly any who think their site is secure. Forget the common
security monitoring tools and firewalls. They might keep out script
kiddies, but they're useless against the professional methods outlined
here.
========================================================================
System Testing Horror Stories Wanted
I am working on a document stressing the importance of conducting end-
to-end performance testing on systems. I am looking for some good case
studies on documented failures that could have been prevented through a
more effective performance testing process. If you have any and would
be willing to share, or if you know of any references that would be of
use, please respond.
Matt Balent
Infinis, Incorporated
mbalent@infinisinc.com
========================================================================
Is This A Genuine Y2K Fix? Opinions Invited!
This item was forwarded to TTN by Emanual R. "Manny" Baker
who received it it from Ron S. Kennett.
One of our engineers found this bug by talking to a friend at Microsoft.
TEST:
Double click on "My Computer".
Double click on "Control Panel".
Double click on "Regional Settings" icon.
Click on the "Date" tab at the top of the page.
Where it says, "Short Date Sample" look and see if
it shows a "two digit" year. Of course it does.
That's the default setting for Windows 95, Windows 98
and NT.
This date RIGHT HERE is the date that feeds application
software and WILL NOT rollover in the year 2000. It will
roll over to 00.
Click on the button across from "Short Date Style" and
select the Option that shows, mm/dd/yyyy, or add two y letters
to the previous mm/dd/yy setting.
(Be sure your selection has four Y's showing, not just two).
Then click on "Apply" and then click on "OK" at the bottom.
Easy enough to fix. However, every single installation
(yy) of Windows worldwide is defaulted to fail Y2K rollover.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Ron S. Kenett, Ph.D. (ron@kpa.co.il)
CEO and Senior Partner
KPA Ltd., P.O.Box 2525, Raanana 43100, ISRAEL
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
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