[ecoop-info] CFP AST 2016 - 11th IEEE/ACM International Workshop on Automation of Software Test

[Francesca Lonetti]

[Apologies if you receive multiple copies of this message]


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CALL FOR PAPERS
AST 2016
11th IEEE/ACM International Workshop on Automation of Software Test
(http://tech.brookes.ac.uk/AST2016/)
In Conjunction with ICSE 2016 (http://2016.icse.cs.txstate.edu)
Austin, TX, USA. May 14 - 22, 2016
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IMPORTANT DATES:
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Submission deadline: Jan. 22, 2016
Notification of acceptance: Feb. 19, 2016
Camera-Ready version: Feb. 26, 2016
Workshop dates: May 14-15, 2016


In software development practice, testing accounts for as much as 50%
of the total development effort. It is therefore imperative to reduce
the cost and improve the effectiveness of software testing by
automating the testing process. In the past decades, a great amount
of research effort has been spent on automatic test case generation,
automatic test oracles, etc. Test automation is also becoming an
important part of software testing practice.
The workshop is the 11th edition of the successful AST workshops held
at ICSE conferences. It will provide researchers and practitioners
with a forum for exchanging ideas, experiences, understanding of the
problems, visions for the future, and promising solutions to the
problems. The workshop will also provide a platform for researchers
and developers of testing tools to work together to identify the
problems in the theory and practice of software test automation and
to set an agenda and lay the foundation for future development.

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TOPICS OF INTEREST
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The workshop focuses on bridging the gap between the theory and
practice of software test automation. The topics cover all aspects
related to software test automation. In particular, papers on the
following topics are covered, but are not limited to:

1) Methodology:
Software test automation in the context of various software
development methodologies.

2) Technology:
Automation of various test techniques and methods for testing related
activities, as well as for testing various types of software
applications.

3) Tools and environments:
Issues in the development, operation, maintenance and evolution of
software testing tools and environments, and their integration and
inter-operation with other types of software development and
maintenance tools and runtime support environments and platforms.

4) Experiments, empirical studies and experience reports:
Experiments, empirical studies of software test automation, as well
as reports on real experiences in using automated testing techniques,
methods and tools in industry.

5) Identification of problems and visions of the future:
The identification of problems that hamper wider adoption of
automated test techniques, methods and tools and the analysis and
specification of the requirements on automated software testing.

The AST 2016 workshop focuses on a special topic on scalability of
test automation.

Submissions on this topic are especially encouraged, but papers on
other topics are also welcome.

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CHARETTE DISCUSSIONS
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The workshop continues the successful charette discussions of the
previous years. This year, the topic of the charette discussion
sessions will focus on the topic of scalability of test automation.

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INDUSTRIAL CASE STUDIES
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There will also be an Industrial Case Studies session at the
workshop, with presentations reporting the real state of the practice
in automation of software testing. Test practitioners are especially
encouraged to contribute their experiences and insights on test
automation. Topics for this session include, but are not limited to,
the following: new tools, new best practices, process innovations
related to test automation, gaps in existing vendor toolsets, ideas
and visions for near-term research work.

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SUBMISSIONS
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Two types of submissions are invited: regular papers and industrial
case study papers. The former presents research in the area of
software test automation, while the latter presents practical
applications of test automation.
Both types of papers are limited to 7 pages in ACM Conference
Proceedings Format. Papers should follow the formatting guidelines for
ICSE 2016 submissions:
http://2016.icse.cs.txstate.edu/formatInstr
All papers submitted to the workshop must be
unpublished original work and should not be under review or submitted
elsewhere while being under consideration.
All submissions must be in English and in PDF format through online
upload to the workshop submission website at the following URL:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ast2016
All submissions will be reviewed by three PC members. Regular papers
will be judged on the basis of their clarity, relevance, originality,
and contribution. Case study papers will be judged on the basis of
their clarity, relevance, and interest to the workshop participants.

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PUBLICATION OF PAPERS
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The accepted workshop papers including both regular and case study
papers will be published as an ICSE 2016 Workshop Proceedings in the
ACM and IEEE digital libraries.
Authors of accepted papers are required to register for the workshop
and present the paper at the workshop in order for the paper to be
included in the Proceedings.

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ORGANIZERS:
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Workshop PC Co-Chairs
Christof Budnik, Siemens Corporation, Corporate Technology, USA
Gordon Fraser, The University of Sheffield, UK
Francesca Lonetti, Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell'Informazione,
CNR, Italy

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Program Committee
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Xiaoying Bai, Tsinghua University, China
Antonia Bertolino, ISTI-CNR, Italy
Wing Kwong Chan, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Zhenyu Chen, Nanjing University, China
Junhua Ding, East Carolina University, USA
Hyunsook Do, University of North Texas, USA
Dimitris Dranidis, CITY College, Greece
Maria Jose Escalona, University of Seville, Spain
Mark Harman, University College London, UK
Uwe Hehn, Method Park Software AG, Germany
Rob Hierons, Brunel University, UK
John Hughes, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Gregory Kapfhammer, Allegheny College, USA
Yves Le Traon, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Patricia Machado, Federal University of Campina Grande, Brazil
Eda Marchetti, ISTI-CNR, Italy
Leonardo Mariani, University of Milano Bicocca, Italy
Atif Memon, University of Maryland, USA
Henry Muccini, University of L'Aquila, Italy
Andrea Polini, University of Camerino, Italy
Jose Miguel Rojas, University of Sheffield, UK
Marc Roper, University of Strathclyde, UK
Lijun Shan, National Digital Switching System Engineering, China
Paul Strooper, University of Queensland, Australia
Nikolai Tillmann, Microsoft Research, USA
T.H. Tse, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Andreas Ulrich, Siemens AG, Germany
Neil Walkinshaw, University of Leicester, UK
Eric Wong, University of Texas at Dallas, USA
Howell Yee, MIT Lincoln Lab, USA
Lu Zhang, Peking University, China

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Steering Committee
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Hong Zhu (Chair), Oxford Brookes University, UK
Antonia Bertolino, ISTI - CNR, Italy
Fevzi Belli, Paderborn University, Germany
Christof Budnik, Siemens Corp. Research, USA
Shing-chi Cheung, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology,
Hong Kong
Jenny Li, Kean University, USA
Steve Masticola, Siemens, USA
Eric Wong, Univ. of Texas at Dallas, USA