Software validation through testing will continue to be a very important tool for ensuring correctness of large scale software systems. Automation of testing tools can greatly enhance their power and reduce testing cost. In this paper, techniques for automated test data generation are discussed. Given a program graph, a set of paths are identified to satisfy some given testing criteria. When a path or a program segment is specified, symbolic execution is used for generating input constraints which define a set of inputs for executing this path or segment. Problems encountered in symbolic execution are discussed. A new approach for resolving array reference ambiguities and a procedure for generating test inputs satisfying input constraints are proposed. References to arrays are recorded in a table. during symbolic execution and ambiguities are resolved when test data are generated to evaluate the subscript expressions. The implementation of a test data generator for Fortran programs incorporating these techniques is also described.

In the past few years, research has been actively carried out in an attempt to improve the quality and reliability of large-scale software systems. Although progress has been made on the formal proof of program correctness, proving large-scale software systems correct by formal proof is still many years away. Automated software tools have been found to be valuable in improving software reliability and attacking the high cost of software systems. This paper attempts to describe some main features of automated software tools and some software evaluation systems that are currently available.