LittleDarwin: a Feature-Rich and Extensible Mutation Testing Framework for Large and Complex Java Systems

Mutation testing is a well-studied method for increasing the quality of a test suite. We designed LittleDarwin as a mutation testing framework able to cope with large and complex Java software systems, while still being easily extensible with new experimental components. LittleDarwin addresses two existing problems in the domain of mutation testing: having a tool able to work within an industrial setting, and yet, be open to extension for cutting edge techniques provided by academia. LittleDarwin already offers higher-order mutation, null type mutants, mutant sampling, manual mutation, and mutant subsumption analysis. There is no tool today available with all these features that is able to work with typical industrial software systems.Comment: Pre-proceedings of the 7th IPM International Conference on Fundamentals of Software Engineerin

Meaning in life in the Federal Republic of Germany: results of a representative survey with the Schedule for Meaning in Life Evaluation (SMiLE)

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Hybrid Is Better: Why and How Test Coverage and Software Reliability Can Benefit Each Other

Functional, structural and operational testing are three broad categories of software testing methods driven by the product functionalities, the way it is implemented, and the way it is expected to be used, respectively. A large body of the software testing literature is devoted to evaluate and compare test techniques in these categories. Although it appears reasonable to devise hybrid methods to merge their different strengths - because different techniques may complement each other by targeting different types of faults and/or using different artifacts - we still miss clear guidelines on how to best combine them. We discuss differences and limitations of two popular testing approaches, namely coverage-driven and operational-profile testing, belonging to structural and operational testing, respectively. We show why and how test coverage and operational profile can cross-fertilize each other, improving the effectiveness of structural testing or, conversely, the product reliability achievable by operational testing

Detection of Polluting Test Objectives for Dataflow Criteria

International Conference on Integrated Formal Methods 2020-11-16/20, Lugano, SuisseInternational audienceDataflow test coverage criteria, such as all-defs and all-uses, belong to the most advanced coverage criteria. These criteria are defined by complex artifacts combining variable definitions, uses and program paths. Detection of polluting (i.e. inapplicable, infeasible and equivalent) test objectives for such criteria is a particularly challenging task. This short paper evaluates three detection approaches involving dataflow analysis, value analysis and weakest precondition calculus. We implement and compare these approaches, analyze their detection capacities and propose a methodology for their efficient combination. Initial experiments illustrate the benefits of the proposed approach

Mutation Operators for Large Scale Data Processing Programs in Spark

International audienc

An Axiom-Based Test Case Selection Strategy for Object-Oriented Programs

Because of the growing importance of object-oriented programming, a number of testing approaches have been proposed. Frankl et al. propose the application of the functional approach, using algebraic specifications for the generation of test cases and the validation of methods. Given a specification, Frankl et al. propose that equivalent terms should give observably equivalent objects, and offer general heuristics on the selection of equivalent terms for testing. Their guidelines, however, are only supported by limited empirical results, do not have a theoretical basis, and provide no guarantee of effectiveness. In this paper, we define the concept of a fundamental pair as a pair of equivalent terms which are formed by replacing all the variables on both sides of an axiom by normal forms. We prove that an implementation is consistent with respect to all equivalent terms if and only if it is consistent with respect to all fundamental pairs. In other words, the testing coverage of fundamental pairs is identical to that of all equivalent terms, and hence we need only concentrate on the testing of fundamental pairs. Our strategy is mathematically based, simple, and much more efficient. Furthermore, it underscores the usefulness of axiom-based specifications

Maximising the information gained from a study of static analysis technologies for concurrent software

The results of empirical studies in Software Engineering are limited to particular contexts, difficult to generalise and the studies themselves are expensive to perform. Despite these problems, empirical studies can be made effective and they are important to both researchers and practitioners. The key to their effectiveness lies in the maximisation of the information that can be gained by examining and replicating existing studies and using power analyses for an accurate minimum sample size. This approach was applied in a controlled experiment examining the combination of automated static analysis tools and code inspection in the context of the verification and validation (V & V) of concurrent Java components. The paper presents the results of this controlled experiment and shows that the combination of automated static analysis and code inspection is cost-effective. Throughout the experiment a strategy to maximise the information gained from the experiment was used. As a result, despite the size of the study, conclusive results were obtained, contributing to the research on V & V technology evaluation