Generating Minimal Fault Detecting Test Suites for Boolean Expressions

Abstract

Abstract-New coverage criteria for Boolean expressions are regularly introduced with two goals: to detect specific classes of realistic faults and to produce as small as possible test suites. In this paper we investigate whether an approach targeting specific fault classes using several reduction policies can achieve that less test cases are generated than by previously introduced testing criteria. In our approach, the problem of finding fault detecting test cases can be formalized as a logical satisfiability problem, which can be efficiently solved by a SAT algorithm. We compare this approach with respect to the well-known MUMCUT and Minimal-MUMCUT strategies by applying it to a series of case studies commonly used as benchmarks, and show that it can reduce the number of test cases further than Minimal-MUMCUT.

Redefinition of Fault Classes in Logic Expressions

“…[2,11,12,20,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] MCF IDNF A fault where the specification contains one or more conditions not implemented by the programmer (e.g. bc + be + def ) [2,3,11,12,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]64] A literal in an expression is omitted. It also known as LOF.…”

“…S D = abc + be + def for IDNF; S G = abc(de + f + h + ei)ḡ for GF) ReferenceReplace one occurrence of a variable by its negation (e.g.ābc + be + def )[2,11,12,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] Occur when an atomic Boolean literal, say a, is replaced by its negation. It is also called Literal Negation Fault (LNF).GFReplace an occurrence of a variable/condition/clause by its negation in the formula.…”

Dealing with Constraints in Boolean Expression Testing

“…In [1], [8] we presented an approach that allows the generation of tests by means of SMT and SAT solvers. It is a simplification of the test generation technique by model checking originally presented in [10], [9].…”

“…IGN and INC policies are commonly used in test generation for Boolean expressions [8], [23], [2], [18]. The VAL policy has never been applied to logic testing, but it is commonly used with test generation for programs using constraint solving techniques [11].…”

“…In [8], we have presented fault based testing criteria which generate test predicates from Boolean expressions in disjunctive normal form (DNF) and whose tests are guaranteed to detect faults in specific fault classes (as in [19], [15]). This approach has been extended to Boolean expressions in General form (GF): although its detailed description is outside the scope of this paper, it can be summarized as follows.…”