Using Swarm Intelligence to Generate Test Data for Covering Prime Paths

International audienceSearch-based test data generation methods mostly consider the branch coverage criterion. To the best of our knowledge, only two works exist which propose a fitness function that can support the prime path coverage criterion, while this criterion subsumes the branch coverage criterion. These works are based on the Genetic Algorithm (GA) while scalability of the evolutionary algorithms like GA is questionable. Since there is a general agreement that evolutionary algorithms are inferior to swarm intelligence algorithms, we propose a new approach based on swarm intelligence for covering prime paths. We utilize two prominent swarm intelligence algorithms, i.e., ACO and PSO, along with a new normalized fitness function to provide a better approach for covering prime paths. To make ACO applicable for the test data generation problem, we provide a customization of this algorithm. The experimental results show that PSO and the proposed customization of ACO are both more efficient and more effective than GA when generating test data to cover prime paths. Also, the customized ACO, in comparison to PSO, has better effectiveness while has a worse efficiency

Evaluating Software Testing Techniques: A Systematic Mapping Study

Software testing techniques are crucial for detecting faults in software and reducing the risk of using it. As such, it is important that we have a good understanding of how to evaluate these techniques for their efficiency, scalability, applicability, and effectiveness at finding faults. This thesis enhances our understanding of testing technique evaluations by providing an overview of the state of the art in research. To accomplish this we utilize a systematic mapping study; structuring the field and identifying research gaps and publication trends. We then present a small case study demonstrating how our mapping study can be used to assist researchers in evaluating their own software testing techniques. We find that a majority of evaluations are empirical evaluations in the form of case studies and experiments, most of these evaluations are of low quality based on proper methodology guidelines, and that relatively few papers in the field discuss how testing techniques should be evaluated