[GUFSC] Repassando: [PSL-SC] NASA DEVELOPS NEW SOFTWARE TO DETECT 'BUGS' IN JAVA COMPUTER CODE

[Wagner Saback Dantas]

Olá!

Para os desenvolvedores Java da lista e interessados outros. O sítio no
sourceforge do Java Pathfinder é http://javapathfinder.sf.net

É isso,
Wagner.

----- Forwarded message from "Rivalino Matias Jr. (Aluno Pós)" <rivalino em zeus.deps.ufsc.br> -----

John Bluck							April 26, 
2005
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: 650/604-5026 or 604-9000
E-mail: jbluck em mail.arc.nasa.gov

Valerie Williamson
Open Source Technology Group, VA Software Corporation, Fremont, Calif.
Phone: 510/687-7116

RELEASE: 05-28AR
NASA DEVELOPS NEW SOFTWARE TO DETECT 'BUGS' IN JAVA COMPUTER CODE

NASA scientists today announced they are releasing free software that 
will find 'bugs,' or defects, in Java computer code.

The new software, Java Pathfinder, is classified as 'open source 
software.' Open source software is computer code that scientists make 
publicly available, often at no cost, so users can freely utilize and 
modify it. Java is a computer language that software developers 
frequently use to write programs for computer networks such as the 
Internet.

"Java PathFinder is a program that helps people find 'bugs' in other 
programs," said John Penix, a computer scientist at NASA Ames 
Research Center, located in California's Silicon Valley. "PathFinder 
runs the program under test through a lot of trials, and tries to 
find a test that will cause the program to fail."

NASA Ames is providing Java PathFinder as 'open source' code at no 
cost to people who would like to use it, according to Penix. "This 
will enable other people to help us improve the PathFinder software," 
he said. "NASA will benefit from the improvements. We're doing this 
so we can leverage the open-source community," he added.

The Java Pathfinder work "is part of an effort to develop tools and 
methods to identify and eliminate software errors in NASA's 
increasingly complex and mission-critical software systems," 
according to David Korsmeyer, who leads the NASA Ames Intelligent 
Systems Division. 

"Java Pathfinder was used to detect inconsistencies in the executive 
software for the K9 Rover at NASA Ames," Korsmeyer said. The K9 rover 
is a six-wheeled, solar-powered rover developed jointly at NASA Ames 
and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif.

In addition, computer scientists used elements of Java Pathfinder to 
develop verification computer code for Livingstone 2 software, a 
diagnosis system now flying on the EO-1 spacecraft "and an example of 
the kind of autonomy software that will be crucial to future NASA 
missions," Korsmeyer said.

"We're continuing to develop software-testing technologies," said 
Penix. "NASA has a lot of software, and it is difficult to get it 
right; so we want to take advantage of all the work that is going on 
out there and incorporate it into our tools," he explained.

According to scientists, if PathFinder finds an error in a Java 
application, the software checker reports the whole process that 
leads to the bug. Unlike a normal debugger, Java Pathfinder keeps 
track of every step the software checker takes to find a defect, 
Penix noted.

"PathFinder already has been enhanced and tested by several 
universities and companies," Penix said. "Now, additional 
universities can add more features to PathFinder," he said, 
describing how providing Java Pathfinder to the computing world could 
benefit NASA. Pathfinder is in its sixth year of active development.

NASA Ames scientists are offering Java PathFinder on a Web site, 
SourceForge.net:

http://sourceforge.net/index.php

Publication-size images are available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/multimedia/images/2005/javapathfinder.html

SourceForge.net is owned by Open Source Technology Group, Inc. Its 
parent company is VA Software Corporation, Fremont, Calif. PathFinder 
is available under the NASA Open Source Agreement, an open source 
license approved by the non-profit Open Source Initiative 
(www.opensource.org). Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems.

-end-


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----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
Wagner Saback Dantas
http://www.das.ufsc.br/~wagners