Mutation analysis
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Mutation analysis (MA) is a field of computer science involving the mutation of source code by introducing statements or modifying existing statements in small ways. The mutations are based on well-defined mutation operators that either (1) mimic typical user mistakes (such as using the wrong operator or variable name) or (2) force the creation of valuable tests (such as driving each expression to zero). The purpose is to help the tester develop effective tests or locate weaknesses in the test data used for the program or in sections of the code that are seldom or never accessed during execution.
Pioneered in the 1970s, MA was originally intended to locate and expose weaknesses in testing suites. The theory was that if a mutation was introduced without the behaviour (generally output) of the program being affected, this indicated either that the code that had been mutated was never executed (redundant code) or that the testing suite was unable to locate the fault. In order for this to function at any scale, a large number of mutations had to be introduced into a large program, leading to the compilation and execution of an extremely large number of copies of the program. This problem of the expense of Mutation Analysis, has reduced its practical use as a method of software testing.
Mutation Analysis was originally proposed by Dick Lipton as a student, and first developed and published by DeMillo, Lipton and Sayward. The first implementation of a Mutation Analysis tool was by Timothy Budd as part of his PhD work (titled Mutation Analysis) in 1980 from Yale University.
Recently, with the availability of massive computing power, there has been a resurgence of mutation analysis within computer science community, and work has been done to define methods of applying MA to object oriented programming languages and non-procedural languages such as XML, SMV, and finite state machines.
[edit] External links
- Mutation testing list of tools and publications by Jeff Offutt.
