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Dictionary of Multimedia and Internet Applications; F. Botto; Wiley, New York, 1998. ISBN 0-471-986-240; 350 pp., £34.95
Computer Communications 22 (1999) 1619–1620 www.elsevier.com/locate/comcom
Book reviews Testing of Communicating Systems, Vol. 10; by Myungchul Kim, Sugwon Kang, Keesoo Hong (Eds.); London: Chapman & Hall, 1997, 452 pp., ISBN 0-41281730-6 This book contains the proceedings of the (IFIP) 10th International Workshop on Testing of Communicating Systems, which was held in Korea in September 1997. This is an annual event that attracts many of the top researchers from this field. The book thus represents the state-of-the-art at the time. While this is an active research area, most of this material is still relatively up-to-date. As one would expect from a refereed workshop, the papers are generally well written and relevant. While the main focus of this workshop is the testing of communications protocols, much of the work is applicable to a wider range of systems. It is particularly relevant when testing a system that has been specified using a state-based language such as SDL, Estelle or Statecharts. Specifications in such languages may be abstracted to finite state machines or extended finite state machines. Thus, many of the results are also applicable to the testing of control systems. This book contains both theory and practice papers and covers a wide range of topics. Many of the papers concentrate on systems modelled or specified using sequential formalisms such as finite state machines, extended finite state machines, and label transition systems. There are, however, a number of papers devoted to problems encountered when a system is modelled as a number of entities that operate in parallel and interact with one another as well as the environment. In this section the focus is on systems modelled as a set of communicating finite state machine. Here the problems are complicated by, among other things, a potential explosion in the number of global states of the system; standard finite state machine approaches are rarely feasible. The practice papers consider, for example, test generation and test tools and environments. A number of authors also describe applications of test techniques to particular protocols, often within the context of a test tool. Two papers consider the test description language TTCN and extensions to this language that allow the tester to include real-time information and to describe performance tests. The problems addressed in the theory papers include the link between test hypotheses and test coverage, design for testability, test generation, fault detection, and the location of performance bottlenecks. Algorithms are given for testing the control structure and data flow of a communications
protocol. Naturally, many of the theory papers contain material that is applicable and thus could also be classified as practice papers. To summarize, this book contains papers that cover a number of important topics related to testing systems that are modelled using a state-based language. The papers are generally relevant, well written and clearly motivated. While the focus of this book is testing communications protocols, much of the material is applicable to a significantly wider range of systems. R. Hierons Department of Mathematical/Computing Sciences, Goldsmiths College, University of London, New Cross, London SE 14 5SE, UK
Dictionary of Multimedia and Internet Applications; F. Botto; Wiley, New York, 1998. ISBN 0-471-986-240; 350 pp., £34.95. Internet has become a household term in the recent past. In every sphere of life people are fascinated with the power of Internet, be it in academia, industry, or home. Its growing popularity and usage has revolutionized day-to-day living. Multimedia and Internet based applications are changing the conventional computer usage. As the technical evolution is bringing forth efficiency and availability of computational power, a new gamut of technical terms are also being developed at the same time. This book provides an excellent resource base of such terminology. It has one complete chapter dealing with numerals, and separate chapters for each alphabet. In some cases, appropriate diagrams are also included. This book will be significantly helpful if many more diagrams are included to help explaining complicated terms. The author has made it a pleasant reading experience with his lucid style of expression and word choice. Researchers, students, educators, and in general Internet users will definitely find this book helpful. D. Mukhopadhyay SriSoft Corporation, Diamond Bar, 21073 Pathfinder Road, CA 91765, USA 0140-3664/99/$ - see front matter q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0140 -3 664(99)00134 -6
0140-3664/99/$ - see front matter q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0140-366 4(99)00135-8
Book reviews Testing of Communicating Systems, Vol. 10; by Myungchul Kim, Sugwon Kang, Keesoo Hong (Eds.); London: Chapman & Hall, 1997, 452 pp., ISBN 0-41281730-6 This book contains the proceedings of the (IFIP) 10th International Workshop on Testing of Communicating Systems, which was held in Korea in September 1997. This is an annual event that attracts many of the top researchers from this field. The book thus represents the state-of-the-art at the time. While this is an active research area, most of this material is still relatively up-to-date. As one would expect from a refereed workshop, the papers are generally well written and relevant. While the main focus of this workshop is the testing of communications protocols, much of the work is applicable to a wider range of systems. It is particularly relevant when testing a system that has been specified using a state-based language such as SDL, Estelle or Statecharts. Specifications in such languages may be abstracted to finite state machines or extended finite state machines. Thus, many of the results are also applicable to the testing of control systems. This book contains both theory and practice papers and covers a wide range of topics. Many of the papers concentrate on systems modelled or specified using sequential formalisms such as finite state machines, extended finite state machines, and label transition systems. There are, however, a number of papers devoted to problems encountered when a system is modelled as a number of entities that operate in parallel and interact with one another as well as the environment. In this section the focus is on systems modelled as a set of communicating finite state machine. Here the problems are complicated by, among other things, a potential explosion in the number of global states of the system; standard finite state machine approaches are rarely feasible. The practice papers consider, for example, test generation and test tools and environments. A number of authors also describe applications of test techniques to particular protocols, often within the context of a test tool. Two papers consider the test description language TTCN and extensions to this language that allow the tester to include real-time information and to describe performance tests. The problems addressed in the theory papers include the link between test hypotheses and test coverage, design for testability, test generation, fault detection, and the location of performance bottlenecks. Algorithms are given for testing the control structure and data flow of a communications
protocol. Naturally, many of the theory papers contain material that is applicable and thus could also be classified as practice papers. To summarize, this book contains papers that cover a number of important topics related to testing systems that are modelled using a state-based language. The papers are generally relevant, well written and clearly motivated. While the focus of this book is testing communications protocols, much of the material is applicable to a significantly wider range of systems. R. Hierons Department of Mathematical/Computing Sciences, Goldsmiths College, University of London, New Cross, London SE 14 5SE, UK
Dictionary of Multimedia and Internet Applications; F. Botto; Wiley, New York, 1998. ISBN 0-471-986-240; 350 pp., £34.95. Internet has become a household term in the recent past. In every sphere of life people are fascinated with the power of Internet, be it in academia, industry, or home. Its growing popularity and usage has revolutionized day-to-day living. Multimedia and Internet based applications are changing the conventional computer usage. As the technical evolution is bringing forth efficiency and availability of computational power, a new gamut of technical terms are also being developed at the same time. This book provides an excellent resource base of such terminology. It has one complete chapter dealing with numerals, and separate chapters for each alphabet. In some cases, appropriate diagrams are also included. This book will be significantly helpful if many more diagrams are included to help explaining complicated terms. The author has made it a pleasant reading experience with his lucid style of expression and word choice. Researchers, students, educators, and in general Internet users will definitely find this book helpful. D. Mukhopadhyay SriSoft Corporation, Diamond Bar, 21073 Pathfinder Road, CA 91765, USA 0140-3664/99/$ - see front matter q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0140 -3 664(99)00134 -6
0140-3664/99/$ - see front matter q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0140-366 4(99)00135-8