Mutation Testing

This article gives a short overview of the main characteristics of mutation tools. If a test suite finds all the artificial errors inserted in the mutants and finds no fault in the original, it´s likely that the program under test is free of them. Obviously, the validity of this affirmation depends on the nature of the artificial fault: some of them are better than others. This testing technique has been used in the research arena to check the effectiveness of new proposed testing techniques, but it hasn´t been used until recently in industry due to its costs and the lack of knowledge and industrial tools.