Abstract-Model-based testing employs models for testing. Model-based mutation testing (MBMT) additionally involves fault models, called mutants, by applying mutation operators to the original model. A problem encountered with MBMT is the elimination of equivalent mutants and multiple mutants modeling the same faults. Another problem is the need to compare a mutant to the original model for test generation. This paper proposes an event-based approach to MBMT that is not fixed on single events and a single model but rather operates on sequences of events of length k ! 1 and invokes a sequence of models that are derived from the original one by varying its morphology based on k. The approach employs formal grammars, related mutation operators, and algorithms to generate test cases, enabling the following: (1) the exclusion of equivalent mutants and multiple mutants; (2) the generation of a test case in linear time to kill a selected mutant without comparing it to the original model; (3) the analysis of morphologically different models enabling the systematic generation of mutants, thereby extending the set of fault models studied in related literature. Three case studies validate the approach and analyze its characteristics in comparison to random testing and another MBMT approach.
Abstract-It is widely accepted that graphical user interfaces (GUIs) highly affect-positive or negative-the quality and reliability of human-machine systems. In spite of this fact, quantitative assessment of the reliability of GUIs is a relatively young research field. Existing software reliability assessment techniques attempt to statistically describe the software testing process and to determine and thus predict the reliability of the system under consideration (SUC). These techniques model the reliability of the SUC based on particular assumptions and preconditions on probability distribution of cumulative number of failures, failure data observed, and form of the failure intensity function, etc. We expect that the methods used for modeling a GUI and related frameworks used for testing it also affect the factors mentioned above, especially failure data to be observed and prerequisites to be met. Thus, the quality of the reliability assessment process, and ultimately also the reliability of the GUI, depends on the methods used for modeling and testing the SUC. This paper attempts to gain some experimental insight into this problem. GUI testing frameworks based on event sequence graphs and event flow graphs were chosen as examples. A case study drawn from a large commercial webbased system is used to carry out the experiments and discuss the results.
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