Diagnostic Test Generation Targeting Equivalence Classes

We describe a diagnostic test generation procedure that targets the equivalence classes of the test set as it is being generated, instead of considering one fault pair at a time (an equivalence class contains faults that are indistinguished by the test set). When an equivalence class is targeted, all the fault pairs in the equivalence class are targeted simultaneously. This reduces the number of test generation targets, and as a result, it reduces the number of tests in the final test set as well as the test generation time. The implementation of the diagnostic test generation procedure is based on a test elimination process that can accommodate equivalence classes of any size.