The NIST Identifier Collaboration Service (NICS) is a proposed service to encourage collaboration among researchers and developers when choosing identifiers, far in advance of when it might ordinarily occur. This would support and enhance standards development activities, and development and communications in a variety of fields from software development to system administration. Implementation of this system would provide immediate and significant time and cost-savings to many technology administrators, researchers, developers, and implementors world-wide. This paper describes the benefits of NICS to the Tcl community. This paper also briefly describes the implementation of NICS which is Tcl-based internally.

The Lincoln Adaptable Real-time Information Assurance Testbed, LARIAT, is an extension of the testbed created for DARPA 1998 and 1999 intrusion detection (ID) evaluations. LARIAT supports real-time, automated and quantitative evaluations of ID systems and other information assurance (IA) technologies. Components of LARIAT generate realistic background user traffic and real network attacks, verify attack success or failure, score ID system performance, and provide a graphical user interface for control and monitoring. Emphasis was placed on making LARIAT easy to adapt, configure and run without requiring a detailed understanding of the underlying complexity. LARIAT is currently being exercised at four sites and is undergoing continued development and refinement.

Expect is a tool for automating interactive applications. Expect was constructed using Tcl, a language library designed to be embedded into applications. This paper describes experiences with Expect and Tcl over a seven year period. These experiences may help other extension designers as well as the Tcl developers or developers of any other extension language see some of the challenges that a single extension had to deal with while evolving at the same time as Tcl. Tcl and Expect users may also use these `war stories' to gain insight into why Expect works and looks the way it does today. Keywords: Expect; Lessons learned; Software archaeology; Tcl Expect -- What is it? Expect is a tool for automating interactive applications such as telnet, ftp, passwd, fsck, rlogin, tip, etc. [Libes95] Expect is also capable of testing these same applications. Expect is implemented as an extension to Tcl [Ousterhout]. Using Expect with other extensions is straightforward. For example, with Tk, inter...

Window inference is a method for contextual rewriting and refinement, supported by the HOL Window Inference Library. This paper describes a user-friendly interface for window inference. The interface permits the user to select subexpressions by pointing and clicking and to select transformations from menus. The correctness of each transformation step is proved automatically by the HOL system. The interface can be tailored to particular user-defined theories. One such extension, for program refinement, is described. 1 Introduction Though the original purpose of the HOL system [8] was as a tool for hardware verification, it has become popular also as a basis for software verification (see for example [1, 5, 7]). However, the theories built for supporting the software development process are normally difficult to use, especially if one does not have any previous detailed knowledge of the HOL system. In order to make such theories available to a general audience, it is essential that user...

Pixel Data Access is an interprocess communication technique that enables users of graphical user interfaces to automate certain tasks. By accessing the contents of the display buffer, users can search for pixel representations of interface elements, and then initiate actions such as mouse clicks and keyboard entries. While this technique has limitations it offers users of current systems some unusually powerful features that are especially appealing in the area of end-user programming. KEYWORDS: End-User Programming, Programming by Example, Pixel Data Access, Interprocess Communication, Graphical Macros. INTRODUCTION Users of many systems appreciate the power they have to create novel automations that extend the power of these systems. Macros in word processors such as Emacs, WordPerfect, and Word enable users to record frequent sequences of actions for repeated replay and save them for future use. Macros can automate tasks such as making back-up files, merging complex lists, or con...

In this paper, a network laboratory for distance learning of basic concepts in IP networking is presented. Through a web interface, students can choose various configurations of a real private network (number of routers and subnetworks, use of IPv4/IPv6, etc.), and learn about them using Linux network commands. The utilization of the virtual laboratory and how it is implemented are described.

: Expect is a tool for automating interactive programs. Expect is controlled by writing Tcl scripts, traditionally a manual process. This paper describes Autoexpect -- a tool that generates Expect scripts automatically by watching actual interactions and then writing the appropriate script. Using Autoexpect, it is possible to create Expect scripts without writing any actual Expect statements and without any knowledge of Expect. Keywords: Autoexpect; Expect; interaction automation; Tcl Introduction Autoexpect is a tool that generates Expect scripts automatically by watching actual interactions and then writing the appropriate script. Using Autoexpect, it is possible to create Expect scripts without writing any actual Expect statements and without any knowledge of Expect. While this may sound useful only to beginners, even Expect experts now turn to Autoexpect because it is so effective at what it does. Background Expect is a tool for automating interactive programs. It is po...

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This paper describes a technique that allows automation and testing of charactergraphic programs using existing public-domain tools. Specifically, Tcl, Tk, and Expect are augmented with a terminal emulator in order to build a screen representation in memory. This screen can be queried in a high-level way and the interaction can be further controlled based on the screen representation. One immediate use of this is to build a test suite for automating standards conformance of all of the interactive programs in POSIX 1003.2 (Interactive Shells and Utilities) . This technique is portable and inexpensive. All the software described in this paper is free or in the public domain. This paper assumes a thorough understanding of Expect, Tcl, and Tk. Keywords: Conformance Testing; Expect; Interaction Automation; POSIX 1003.2; Regression Testing; Tcl; Tk; X Window System Introduction Most character-graphic programs are interactive and provide no means for non-interactive control. This is not sur...

In this paper I will discuss the development and use of the Continuous Hours of Operation (CHO) test at the Convex Division of Hewlett-Packard. (The test was initially developed at Convex Computer Corporation before Convex was acquired by Hewlett-Packard.) My goal is to help readers with the practical aspects of developing a load test which can be used to help gauge and improve the reliability of a software system. I will briefly mention how we were unable to make much use of currently available software reliability frameworks, partially because of their deficiencies, and partially because of our inadequate knowledge of them. I knew enough about the theories to know that we did not have enough data to calculate a Mean Time to Failure metric, however, we were still successful in improving the reliability of our product and using the results of the CHO test as a release criterion. Background The System Software project leaders at Convex wanted an answer to the seemingly innocent questio...