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Generating High-Quality Tests for Boolean Circuits by Treating Tests as Proof Encoding

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Tests and Proofs (TAP 2010)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 6143))

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Abstract

We consider the problem of test generation for Boolean combinational circuits. We use a novel approach based on the idea of treating tests as a proof encoding rather than as a sample of the search space. In our approach, a set of tests is complete for a circuit N, and a property p, if it “encodes” a formal proof that N satisfies p. For a combinational circuit of k inputs, the cardinality of such a complete set of tests may be exponentially smaller than 2k. In particular, if there is a short resolution proof, then a small complete set of tests also exists. We show how to use the idea of treating tests as a proof encoding to directly generate high-quality tests. We do this by generating tests that encode mandatory fragments of any resolution proof. Preliminary experimental results show the promise of our approach.

This research was funded in part by NASA Cooperative Agreement NNX08AE37A.

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Goldberg, E., Manolios, P. (2010). Generating High-Quality Tests for Boolean Circuits by Treating Tests as Proof Encoding. In: Fraser, G., Gargantini, A. (eds) Tests and Proofs. TAP 2010. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6143. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13977-2_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13977-2_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-13976-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-13977-2

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