Shin, D. orcid.org/0000-0002-0840-6449 and Bae, D.-H. (2016) A theoretical framework for understanding mutation-based testing methods. In: 2016 IEEE International Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation (ICST). 2016 IEEE International Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation (ICST), 11-15 Apr 2016, Chicago, IL, USA. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) , pp. 299-308. ISBN 9781509018260
Abstract
In the field of mutation analysis, mutation is the systematic generation of mutated programs (i.e., mutants) from an original program. The concept of mutation has been widely applied to various testing problems, including test set selection, fault localization, and program repair. However, surprisingly little focus has been given to the theoretical foundation of mutation-based testing methods, making it difficult to understand, organize, and describe various mutation-based testing methods. This paper aims to consider a theoretical framework for understanding mutation-based testing methods. While there is a solid testing framework for general testing, this is incongruent with mutation-based testing methods, because it focuses on the correctness of a program for a test, while the essence of mutation-based testing concerns the differences between programs (including mutants) for a test. In this paper, we begin the construction of our framework by defining a novel testing factor, called a test differentiator, to transform the paradigm of testing from the notion of correctness to the notion of difference. We formally define behavioral differences of programs for a set of tests as a mathematical vector, called a d-vector. We explore the multi-dimensional space represented by d-vectors, and provide a graphical model for describing the space. Based on our framework and formalization, we interpret existing mutation-based fault localization methods and mutant set minimization as applications, and identify novel implications for future work.
Metadata
Item Type: | Proceedings Paper |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Theoretical framework; mutation-based testing |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Computer Science (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 22 Sep 2023 08:38 |
Last Modified: | 22 Sep 2023 08:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1109/icst.2016.22 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:203530 |