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Mutation Analysis using Mutant Schemata

ACM International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis
June 1993, pp. 139-148

Roland Untch, A. Jefferson Offutt, and Mary Jean Harrold

Abstract

Mutation analysis is a powerful technique for assessing and improving the quality of test data used in unit testing software. Unfortunately, current automated mutation analysis systems suffer from severe performance problems. This paper presents a new technique for performing mutation analysis that uses program schemata to encode all mutants for a program into one metaprogram, which is subsequently compiled and run at speeds substantially higher than achieved by previous interpretive systems. Preliminary performance improvements of over 300% are reported. This technique has the additional advantages of being easier to implement than interpretive systems, easy porting across a wide range of hardware and software platforms, and using the same compiler and run-time support system that is used during development and/or deployment.


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