Editorial: Science Fiction and Fantasy

This issue contains two papers. The first, IPOG/IPOG-D: Efficient test generation for multi-way combinatorial testing, by Lei, Kacker, Kuhn, Okun and Lawrence, presents two new strategies for t-way combinatorial testing. The strategies have been implemented in a tool, FireEye, which is available on the first author’s website. Software engineering researchers have always developed tools, but most tools have not been easily available to other researchers. This positive trend has the ability to multiply the impact of our research. The second, Reconciling perspectives of software logic testing, by Kaminski, Williams and Ammann, describes a rather large family of test criteria based on covering logical expressions. Logical expressions are essential to software at all levels— requirements, specifications, design, and implementation. These logic test criteria attempt to cover logical expressions in various ways. The paper presents existing logic expressions in a uniform way, relates them by various criteria, and presents a new test criterion. Although both papers contain substantial theory, they both provide new knowledge on testing techniques that are used in industry. Thus, they are the kinds of papers that STVR is looking for . . . I grew up with a writer of science fiction and fantasy. From my perspective, science fiction books postulated new advances in science or engineering and explored their effects on human society, whereas fantasy books postulated a universe where the rules are slightly different. I enjoyed fantasy but my real love was SF, and I voraciously read all the books in the house. This early exposure to SF fueled my interest in being a scientist. I initially wanted a career in physics, but like thousands of students before me, Electricity and Magnetism convinced me that my future would be much brighter with an advanced degree in computing. I went to grad school with the intent of building programs that could think: self-aware with highorder cognitive abilities. Like hundreds before me, my first AI class disabused me of this notion. Disenchanted, I turned to the myriad of accidental problems in software development, which soon led me into my primary research area of testing. Along the way I learned more about the difference between SF and science. Both groups attempt to summon the future with their own ideas. One difference is that SF often assumes sudden, large-scale changes in science or technology. We love to imagine the lone scientist who uses lightning and dead body parts to summon life, the tinkerer who builds a spaceship out of bicycle parts and broken lawnmowers, the bookworm who builds a time machine in her study, or the engineer who creates a faster than light engine on a mountaintop. Unfortunately, scientists have to contend with the reality of taking very small, incremental steps that over decades lead