Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/206121

Title

An analysis of failure-based test profiles for random testing

Author(s)

Merkel, Robert;  Kuo, Fei-Ching;  Chen, Tsong Yueh

Abstract

In random testing, the distribution of the generated test cases is known as the test profile. We consider the effects of different test profiles, taking advantage of probabilistic information about likely failure-revealing inputs, on the effectiveness of random testing for debugging. We examine a failure-proportional testing strategy, in which tests are randomly sampled with replacement, with probability proportional to a previously identified failure probability distribution, compared to a uniform testing strategy, in which tests are randomly sampled uniformly from the entire input domain. We show that neither strategy optimises failure-detection capabilities, and show an alternative strategy that does. We also consider selection without replacement, and examine the robustness of some strategies given a divergence between the estimated and actual failure probability distributions.

Publication type

Conference paper

Research centre

Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies. Centre for Software Analysis and Testing

Source

Proceedings of 'The Computed World: Software Beyond the Digital Society', the 35th Annual IEEE Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC 2011), Munich, Germany, 18-22 July 2011, pp. 68-75

Publication year

2011

Keyword(s)

Adaptive random testing;  Analytical models;  Equations;  Failure-based testing;  Mathematical model;  Presses;  Probability distribution;  Random testing;  Software;  Test profiles;  Testing

Publisher

IEEE

ISSN

0730-3157 (series ISSN)

ISBN

9780769544397, 0769544398

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/COMPSAC.2011.88

Copyright

Copyright © 2011 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All rights reserved.

Peer reviewed