Title :
A technique for mutation of Java objects
Author :
Bieman, James M. ; Ghosh, Sudipto ; Alexander, Roger T.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. Sci., Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO, USA
Abstract :
Mutation analysis inserts faults into a program to create test sets that distinguish the mutant from the original program. Inserted faults must represent plausible errors. Standard transformations can mutate scalar values such as integers, floats, and character data. Mutating objects is an open problem, because object semantics are defined by the programmer and can vary widely. We develop mutation operators and support tools that can mutate Java library items that are heavily used in commercial software. Our mutation engine can support reusable libraries of mutation components to inject faults into objects that instantiate items from these common Java libraries. Our technique should be effective for evaluating real-world software testing suites.
Keywords :
Java; program testing; software libraries; software reusability; Java library items; Java object mutation; character data; commercial software; common Java libraries; fault insertion; mutation analysis; mutation components; mutation operators; object semantics; plausible errors; real-world software testing suites; reusable libraries; scalar values; standard transformations; support tools; Computer errors; Computer science; Genetic mutations; Java; Object oriented modeling; Programming profession; Runtime; Software libraries; Software tools; Testing;
Conference_Titel :
Automated Software Engineering, 2001. (ASE 2001). Proceedings. 16th Annual International Conference on
Print_ISBN :
0-7695-1426-X
DOI :
10.1109/ASE.2001.989824