Premium
Assessment of C++ object‐oriented mutation operators: A selective mutation approach
Author(s) -
DelgadoPérez Pedro,
Segura Sergio,
MedinaBulo Inmaculada
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
software testing, verification and reliability
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1099-1689
pISSN - 0960-0833
DOI - 10.1002/stvr.1630
Subject(s) - mutation testing , redundancy (engineering) , mutation , computer science , ranking (information retrieval) , quality (philosophy) , mutant , basis (linear algebra) , reduction (mathematics) , object (grammar) , data mining , reliability engineering , computational biology , artificial intelligence , mathematics , engineering , genetics , biology , philosophy , geometry , epistemology , gene
Summary Mutation testing is an effective but costly testing technique. Several studies have observed that some mutants can be redundant and therefore removed without affecting its effectiveness. Similarly, some mutants may be more effective than others in guiding the tester on the creation of high‐quality test cases. On the basis of these findings, we present an assessment of C++ class mutation operators by classifying them into 2 rankings: the first ranking sorts the operators on the basis of their degree of redundancy and the second regarding the quality of the tests they help to design. Both rankings are used in a selective mutation study analysing the trade‐off between the reduction achieved and the effectiveness when using a subset of mutants. Experimental results consistently show that leveraging the operators at the top of the 2 rankings, which are different, lead to a significant reduction in the number of mutants with a minimum loss of effectiveness.