Increased software reliability through input validation analysis and testing

The Input Validation Testing (IVT) technique has been developed to address the problem of statically analyzing input command syntax as defined in English textual interface and requirements specifications and then generating test cases for input validation testing. The technique does not require design or code, so it can be applied early in the lifecycle. A proof-of-concept tool has been implemented and validation has been performed. Empirical validation on industrial software shows that the IVT method found more requirement specification defects than senior testers, generated test cases with higher syntactic coverage than senior testers, and found defects that were not found by the test cases of senior testers. Additionally, the tool performed at a much-reduced cost.