WYSIWYT testing in the spreadsheet paradigm

Abstract

Is it possible to achieve s o m e o f the bene ts of formal testing within the informal programming conven tions of the spreadsheet paradigm? We h a ve been working on an approach that attempts to do so via the development o f a testing methodology for this paradigm. Our \What You See Is What You T est"(WYSIWYT) methodology supplements the conven tion by w h i c h spreadsheets provide automatic immediate visual feedback about values by p r o viding automatic immediate visual feedback about \testedness". In previous work we described this methodology in this paper, w e present empirical data about the methodology's e ectiveness. Our results show that the use of the methodology w asassociated with signi cant i m p r o vement in testing e ectiveness and eciency , even with no training on the theory of testing or test adequacy that the model implements. These results may be due at least in part to the fact that use of the methodology was associated with a signi cant reduction in overcon dence.

Using constraints to diagnose faulty spreadsheets

“…In the WYSIWYT system users can indicate incorrect output values by placing a faulty token in the cell. Similarly, they can indicate that the value in a cell is correct by placing a correct token [35]. When a user indicates one or more program failures during this testing process, fault localization techniques [36] direct the user's attention to the possible faulty cells.…”