CFP: TAP 2008 - The Second International Conference on Tests and Proof

[Bernhard Beckert]

                                   TAP 2008
             Second International Conference on Tests and Proofs

                April 9-11, 2008, Prato (near Florence), Italy

                      http://www.uni-koblenz.de/tap2008/


                              *CALL FOR PAPERS*


     SCOPE

The TAP conference is devoted to the convergence of proofs and tests.
It combines ideas from both sides for the advancement of software quality.

To prove the correctness of a program is to demonstrate, through impeccable
mathematical techniques, that it has no bugs; to test a program is to run it
with the expectation of discovering bugs. The two techniques seem
contradictory: if you have proved your program, it's fruitless to comb
it for
bugs; and if you are testing it, that is surely a sign that you have
given up
on any hope to prove its correctness.

Accordingly, proofs and tests have, since the onset of software engineering
research, been pursued by distinct communities using rather different
techniques and tools.

And yet the development of both approaches leads to the discovery of common
issues and to the realization that each may need the other. The emergence of
model checking has been one of the first signs that contradiction may
yield to
complementarity, but in the past few years an increasing number of research
efforts have encountered the need for combining proofs and tests, dropping
earlier dogmatic views of incompatibility and taking instead the best of
what
each of these software engineering domains has to offer.

      How does deduction help testing? How does testing help deduction?
 How can the combination of testing and deduction increase the reach of
both?

     TOPICS

Topics include:

  - Generation of test data, oracles, or preambles by deductive techniques
    such as theorem proving, model checking, symbolic execution,
    constraint logic programming, etc.
  - Generation of specifications by deduction
  - Verification techniques combining proofs and tests
  - Program proving with the aid of testing techniques
  - Transfer of concepts from testing to proving (e.g., coverage criteria)
  - Automatic bug finding
  - Formal frameworks
  - Tool descriptions and experience reports
  - Case studies


     IMPORTANT DATES

November 2, 2007:     Abstract submission deadline
November 9, 2008:     Paper submission deadline
January 20, 2008:     Acceptance notification
February 3, 2008:     Final version due
April 9-11, 2008:     Conference


     SUBMISSIONS

Submissions should describe previously unpublished work (completed or in
progress), including descriptions of research, tools, and applications.
Papers must be formatted following the Springer LNCS guidelines and be
at most
15 pages long.

Submission of papers is via EasyChair at http://www.easychair.org/TAP2008/.

The proceedings are planned to be published within Springer's LNCS
series. They will be available at the conference.


     CONFERENCE CHAIR

B. Meyer  (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

     PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS

B. Beckert  (U of Koblenz, Germany)
R. Hähnle  (Chalmers U of Technology, Sweden)

     PROGRAMME COMMITTEE

B. Aichernig  (TU Graz, Austria)
B. Beckert  (U of Koblenz, Germany)
M. Butler  (U of Southampton, UK)
T.Y. Chen  (Swinburne U of Technology, Australia)
Y. Gurevich  (Microsoft Research, USA)
R. Hähnle  (Chalmers U of Technology, Sweden)
W. Howden  (U of California at San Diego, USA)
D. Jackson (MIT, USA)
B. Meyer  (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
P. Müller  (Microsoft Research, USA)
T. Nipkow  (TU München, Germany)
Robby (Kansas State U, USA)
D. Rosenblum  (U College London, UK)
W. Schulte  (Microsoft Research, USA)
N. Sharygina  (CMU and U of Lugano, Switzerland)
B. Wolff  (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

  - more to be added -

     STEERING COMMITTEE

Y. Gurevich  (Microsoft Research, USA)
B. Meyer  (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

     ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

C. Gladisch  (U of Koblenz, Germany)
P. Rümmer  (Chalmers U of Technology, Sweden)


     CONTACT

Email:  tap2008 at uni-koblenz.de
Web:  http://www.uni-koblenz.de/tap2008/