Archive

Archive for the ‘Master's’ Category

Python and XAutomation to test UI

April 28th, 2009

It’s common sense that SW testing is necessary but (there is always a “but”), developers hate to do it.

Facing this problem, I developed a python script to test Carman users interaction, or, to test the UI from user point-of-view. Using XAutomation is possible to test Maemo applications running in Nokia devices natively.

Since I have to do a lot of measurements (for my Master’s tests), collecting data from graphical applications execution, I developed two python scripts to test Canola and Browser. They are open source, feel free to use it and/or suggest something.

- Canola test script

- Browser test script

I’ve used this xautomation Debian package compiled for ARM.

briglia Master's

Cache Compression x MiBench

March 25th, 2009

I just did some tests using newest Compressed Cache, and MiBench (paper here). These tests are part of my Master’s work and were done to evaluate if MiBench benchmarks are suitable for Compressed Cache usage. Since MiBench is largely used in Embedded Systems studies, is important to see if they have memory consumption and/or if the bencharmks are ok to test swap consumption.

MiBench benchmarks are divided in six modules: Automotive, Consumer Devices, Network, Office Automation, Security and Telecommunication. Each module groups programs those act as benchmarks to evaluate common characteristics. What I did was pick one program from each module and execute it in a N810 with Maemo Diablo system. See figures below:

Automotive benchmark

Automotive benchmark

Consumer Devices benchmark

Consumer Devices benchmark

Network benchmark

Network benchmark

Office Automation benchmark

Office Automation benchmark

Security benchmark

Security benchmark

Telecommunication benchmark

Telecommunication benchmark

As we can notice, graphs presented itself quite similar. It happened due to the memory consumption behaviour applied by each benchmark. Conclusion: MiBench does not do usage of swap area and/or memory. It indicates that we need a better benchmark if we want to evaluate Compressed Cache.

Actually, this is just a small part of my Master’s. Tests are more “real-world” oriented, involving applications like browser, media player and PDF reader.

briglia Master's