[Om-announce] CFP: 8th International Conference on TESTS AND PROOFS (TAP 2014)

[Nikolai Tillmann]

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*  	
*  8th International Conference 
*  on 
*  TESTS AND PROOFS (TAP 2014)
*
*  http://www.tap2014.org 
*  Co-located with STAF, York, UK, July 24-25, 2014
*
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*                                              
*  Call for Paper                                    
*                                              
*  Abstract submission: February 25, 2014      
*  Paper submission:    March 1, 2014          
*
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Scope
=====

The TAP conference is devoted to the synergy of proofs and tests, 
to the application of techniques from both sides and their combination
for the advancement of software quality.

Testing and proving seem to be orthogonal techniques: once a program
has been proven to be correct then additional testing seems
pointless; however, when such a proof in not feasible, then
testing the program seems to be the only option. This view 
has dominated the research community for a long time, and has
resulted in distinct communities pursuing the different
research areas.

The development of both approaches has led to the discovery of
common issues and to the realization of potential synergy. 
Perhaps, the use of model checking in testing was one of the 
first signs that a counterexample to a proof may be interpreted 
as a test case. Recent breakthroughs in deductive techniques 
such as satisfiability modulo theories, abstract interpretation, 
and interactive theorem proving, have paved the way for new and 
practically effective methods of powering testing techniques. 
Moreover, since formal, proof-based verification is costly, 
testing invariants and background theories can be helpful to
detect errors early and to improve cost effectiveness. Summing up, 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.

The TAP conference aims to bring together researchers and practitioners
working in the converging fields of testing and proving by offering 
a generous forum for the presentation of ongoing research, 
for tutorials on established technologies and for informal discussions.


Topics of Interest
==================

Topics of interest cover theory definitions, tool constructions and
experimentations, and include (other topics related to TAP are welcome):

- Bridging the gap between concrete and symbolic techniques, e.g. using
  proof search in satisfiability modulo theories solvers to enhance
  various testing techniques
- Transfer of concepts from testing to proving (e.g., coverage criteria)
  and from proving to testing
- Program proving with the aid of testing techniques
- Verification and testing techniques combining proofs and tests
- Generation of test data, oracles, or preambles by deductive techniques
  such as: theorem proving, model checking, symbolic execution,
  constraint logic programming
- Model-based testing and verification
- Generation of specifications by deduction
- Automatic bug finding
- Debugging of programs combining static and dynamic analysis
- Case studies combining tests and proofs
- Domain specific applications of testing and proving to new application
  domains such as validating security protocols, vulnerability detection
  of programs, security
- Testing of verification environments and reasoning engines like solvers 
  and theorem provers
- New approaches such as crowd-sourcing and serious games to 
  infer intended semantics and assess correctness
- Formal frameworks
- Tool descriptions and experience reports

Important Dates:
================

Abstract submission:   February 25, 2014
Paper submission:      March 1, 2014
Notification:          April 28, 2014
Camera ready version:  May 12, 2014
TAP conference:        July 24-25, 2014

Program Chairs: 
===============
Martina Seidl (JKU Linz/TU Wien, Austria)
Nikolai Tillmann (Microsoft Research, USA)


Program Committee: 
==================

Arnaud Gotlieb
Dirk Beyer
Achim D. Brucker
Robert Clarisó
Marco Comini
Catherine Dubois
Juhan Ernits
Gordon Fraser
Angelo Gargantini
Christoph Gladisch
Martin Gogolla
Reiner Hähnle
Bart Jacobs
Thierry Jéron
Jacques Julliand
Gregory Kapfhammer
Nikolai Kosmatov
Victor Kuliamin
Karl Meinke
Alexandre Petrenko
Martina Seidl
Nikolai Tillmann
T.H. Tse
Margus Veanes
Luca Viganò
Burkhart Wolff
Fatiha Zaidi


Submission:
===========

Please submit your papers via easychair 
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=tap2014 
(submission page to be opened in due time)

TAP 2014 will accept two types of papers and also tutorials:

- Research papers: full papers with at most 16 pages in LNCS format
  (pdf), which have to be original, unpublished and not submitted
  elsewhere. Research papers should clearly describe the addressed 
  problem, the relevant state-of-the-art, the scientifically-founded 
  solution, and the benefits of the presented approach. 

- Short contributions: work in progress, (industrial) experience
  reports or tool demonstrations, position statements; an extended
  abstract with at most 6 pages in LNCS format (pdf) is expected.
  The same evaluation criteria apply to short papers as to full 
  research papers. Short papers will be reviewed to the same 
  standards of quality as full research papers.

- Tutorials: TAP 2014 further invites one-hour tutorial presentation
  surveying the  state-of-the-art of any research field related 
  to the topics of TAP. Tutorial proposals shall have a maximum 
  length of 3 pages in LNCS format (pdf) and provide information 
  about the content, a short outline, and information about the 
  speakers.

Accepted full and short papers will be published in the Springer LNCS 
series and will be available at the conference. Accepted tutorials 
will be assigned a slot of 60 minutes during the conference.

The contents of previous TAP proceedings is available at:
http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/conf/tap/tap2013.html