2025
Authors
Barros, A; Neto, H; Cunha, A; Macedo, N; Paiva, ACR;
Publication
FORMAL METHODS, PT II, FM 2024
Abstract
Platforms to support novices learning to program are often accompanied by automated next-step hints that guide them towards correct solutions. Many of those approaches are data-driven, building on historical data to generate higher quality hints. Formal specifications are increasingly relevant in software engineering activities, but very little support exists to help novices while learning. Alloy is a formal specification language often used in courses on formal software development methods, and a platform-Alloy4Fun-has been proposed to support autonomous learning. While non-data-driven specification repair techniques have been proposed for Alloy that could be leveraged to generate next-step hints, no data-driven hint generation approach has been proposed so far. This paper presents the first data-driven hint generation technique for Alloy and its implementation as an extension to Alloy4Fun, being based on the data collected by that platform. This historical data is processed into graphs that capture past students' progress while solving specification challenges. Hint generation can be customized with policies that take into consideration diverse factors, such as the popularity of paths in those graphs successfully traversed by previous students. Our evaluation shows that the performance of this new technique is competitive with non-data-driven repair techniques. To assess the quality of the hints, and help select the most appropriate hint generation policy, we conducted a survey with experienced Alloy instructors.
2025
Authors
Kuroishi, PH; Paiva, ACR; Maldonado, JC; Vincenzi, AMR;
Publication
INFORMATION AND SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY
Abstract
Context: Testing activities are essential for the quality assurance of mobile applications under development. Despite its importance, some studies show that testing is not widely applied in mobile applications. Some characteristics of mobile devices and a varied market of mobile devices with different operating system versions lead to a highly fragmented mobile ecosystem. Thus, researchers put some effort into proposing different solutions to optimize mobile application testing. Objective: The main goal of this paper is to provide a categorization and classification of existing testing infrastructures to support mobile application testing. Methods: To this aim, the study provides a Systematic Mapping Study of 27 existing primary studies. Results: We present a new classification and categorization of existing types of testing infrastructure, the types of supported devices and operating systems, whether the testing infrastructure is available for usage or experimentation, and supported testing types and applications. Conclusion: Our findings show a need for mobile testing infrastructures that support multiple phases of the testing process. Moreover, we showed a need for testing infrastructure for context-aware applications and support for both emulators and real devices. Finally, we pinpoint the need to make the research available to the community whenever possible.
2024
Authors
Radeva, P; Furnari, A; Bouatouch, K; de Sousa, AA;
Publication
VISIGRAPP (4): VISAPP
Abstract
2024
Authors
Radeva, P; Furnari, A; Bouatouch, K; de Sousa, AA;
Publication
VISIGRAPP (3): VISAPP
Abstract
2024
Authors
Radeva, P; Furnari, A; Bouatouch, K; de Sousa, AA;
Publication
VISIGRAPP (2): VISAPP
Abstract
2024
Authors
Rogers, TB; Méneveaux, D; Ziat, M; Ammi, M; Jänicke, S; Purchase, HC; Bouatouch, K; de Sousa, AA;
Publication
VISIGRAPP (1): GRAPP, HUCAPP, IVAPP
Abstract
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