Software Testing

Odoo is a highly configurable web-based ERP designed to manage various business operations such as CRM, inventory, sales, and invoicing, targeting small and medium-sized enterprises. Odoo is mainly developed in Python and JavaScript. This project will be conducted in collaboration with Odoo developers and will focus on a topic at the intersection of Continuous Integration and Software Testing.

The new Verification and Validation (V&V) course includes sessions where students write tests for small Java programs. Previously, a thesis explored a gamification approach centered on competition, using a leaderboard to compare students’ scores. This thesis aims to explore alternative gamification methods focused on student collaboration and to compare their effectiveness with the competitive approach used in the past thesis.

The project aims to improve the updating of machine learning models, especially in federated learning where a central “super model” manages multiple instances. Inspired by software testing, RealM works to prevent updates that may cause faulty behavior. The project also plans a central system, like a package manager, to organize models, manage their versions, documentation, and performance tests over time.

The practice of software testing is struggling to become widespread in the software development industry. This observation also applies to the academic world, where students often devote little energy to this activity, due to lack of motivation or time. To address these issues, this study explores the use of gamification as a lever of engagement in software testing. Following a state-of-the-art review of testing techniques and gamification principles applied to software development, an existing IntelliJ plugin was reused and enhanced. Initially centered on a system of achievements, this plugin was supplemented by a leaderboard, enabling a comparison of these two approaches. Achievements are badges, here represented by trophies, awarded when the user reaches certain levels of progress in the plugin. A leaderboard, on the other hand, is a table that ranks the various participants according to the points they have earned. The aim is to determine which mode favors student involvement, while having better performance in test writing.