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Beast methodology: An agile testing methodology for multi-agent systems based on behaviour driven development

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Abstract

This paper presents a testing methodology to apply Behaviour Driven Development (BDD) techniques while developing Multi-Agent Systems (MASs), termed BEhavioural Agent Simple Testing (BEAST) Methodology. This methodology is supported by the open source framework (BEAST Tool) which automatically generates test cases skeletons from BDD scenarios specifications. The developed framework allows the testing of MASs based on JADE or JADEX platforms. In addition, this framework offers a set of configurable Mock Agents with the aim of being able to execute tests while the MAS is under development. The BEAST Methodology presents transparent traceability from user requirements to test cases. Thus, the stakeholders can be aware of the project status. The methodology and the associated tool have been validated in the development of a MAS for fault diagnosis in FTTH (Fiber To The Home) networks. The results have been measured in quantifiable way obtaining a reduction of the tests implementation time.

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Notes

  1. A literate review of ATDD can be found in Haugset and Hanssen (2008).

  2. http://github.com/gsi-upm/BeastTool/

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Acknowledgments

This research work is supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the R&D project CALISTA (TEC2012-32457). The authors want to acknowledge the cooperation of Telefónica R&D, and Javier García-Algarra, Javier García-Ordás, Beatriz Fuentes, Raquel Toribio and Andrés Sedano-Frade.

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  1. Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas Telemáticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Av. Complutense 30, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Álvaro Carrera, Carlos A. Iglesias & Mercedes Garijo

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  1. Álvaro Carrera
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  2. Carlos A. Iglesias
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  3. Mercedes Garijo
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Correspondence to Álvaro Carrera.

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Carrera, Á., Iglesias, C.A. & Garijo, M. Beast methodology: An agile testing methodology for multi-agent systems based on behaviour driven development. Inf Syst Front 16, 169–182 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-013-9438-5

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