Proceedings ArticleDOI
Is mutation an appropriate tool for testing experiments? [software testing]
James H. Andrews,L.C. Briand,Yvan Labiche +2 more
- pp 402-411
TLDR
It is concluded that, based on the data available thus far, the use of mutation operators is yielding trustworthy results (generated mutants are similar to real faults); Mutants appear however to be different from hand-seeded faults that seem to be harder to detect than real faults.Abstract:
The empirical assessment of test techniques plays an important role in software testing research. One common practice is to instrument faults, either manually or by using mutation operators. The latter allows the systematic, repeatable seeding of large numbers of faults; however, we do not know whether empirical results obtained this way lead to valid, representative conclusions. This paper investigates this important question based on a number of programs with comprehensive pools of test cases and known faults. It is concluded that, based on the data available thus far, the use of mutation operators is yielding trustworthy results (generated mutants are similar to real faults). Mutants appear however to be different from hand-seeded faults that seem to be harder to detect than real faults.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
An Analysis and Survey of the Development of Mutation Testing
Yue Jia,Mark Harman +1 more
TL;DR: These analyses provide evidence that Mutation Testing techniques and tools are reaching a state of maturity and applicability, while the topic of Mutation testing itself is the subject of increasing interest.
Journal ArticleDOI
Regression testing minimization, selection and prioritization: a survey
Shin Yoo,Mark Harman +1 more
TL;DR: This paper surveys each area of minimization, selection and prioritization technique and discusses open problems and potential directions for future research.
Journal ArticleDOI
Supporting Controlled Experimentation with Testing Techniques: An Infrastructure and its Potential Impact
TL;DR: The infrastructure that is being designed and constructed to support controlled experimentation with testing and regression testing techniques is described and the impact that this infrastructure has had and can be expected to have.
Journal ArticleDOI
A Survey on Software Fault Localization
TL;DR: A comprehensive overview of a broad spectrum of fault localization techniques, each of which aims to streamline the fault localization process and make it more effective by attacking the problem in a unique way is provided.
Book ChapterDOI
Requirements Coverage as an Adequacy Measure for Conformance Testing
TL;DR: Existing adequacy measures for conformance testing that only consider model coverage can be strengthened by combining them with rigorous requirements coverage metrics.
References
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Hints on Test Data Selection: Help for the Practicing Programmer
TL;DR: In many cases tests of a program that uncover simple errors are also effective in uncovering much more complex errors, so-called coupling effect can be used to save work during the testing process.
Proceedings ArticleDOI
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TL;DR: An experimental study investigating the effectiveness of two code-based test adequacy criteria for identifying sets of test cases that detect faults found that tests based respectively on control-flow and dataflow criteria are frequency complementary in their effectiveness.
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The category-partition method for specifying and generating fuctional tests
Thomas J. Ostrand,M. J. Balcer +1 more
TL;DR: A method for creating functional test suites has been developed in which a test engineer analyzes the system specification, writes a series of formal test specifications, and then uses a generator tool to produce test descriptions from which test scripts are written.
Journal ArticleDOI
An experimental determination of sufficient mutant operators
TL;DR: The results support the hypothesis that selective mutation is almost as strong as nonselective mutation: in experimental trials selective mutation provides almost the same coverage as non selective mutation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Testing Programs with the Aid of a Compiler
TL;DR: Finite input-output specifications are added to the syntax of programs so that they exercise the control and expression structure of a program as well as any tests can and can be verified at compile time.