Towards the prioritization of system test cases

During software development, companies are frequently faced with lack of time and resources, which limits their ability to effectively complete testing efforts. This paper presents a system‐level, value‐driven approach to test case prioritization called the Prioritization of Requirements for Test (PORT). PORT involves analysing and assigning value to each requirement using the following four factors: requirements volatility, customer priority, implementation complexity, and fault proneness. System test cases are prioritized such that the test cases for requirements with higher priority are executed earlier during system test. PORT was applied to four student team projects as well as an industrial case study. The results show that PORT improves the rate of detection of severe failures over random prioritization. Additionally, the results indicate that customer priority was the most important contributor towards improved rate of failure detection. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Factor oriented requirement coverage based system test case prioritization of new and regression test cases

Test case prioritization involves scheduling test cases in an order that increases the effectiveness in achieving some performance goals. One of the most important performance goals is the rate of fault detection. Test cases should run in an order that increases the possibility of fault detection and also that detects the most severe faults at the earliest in its testing life cycle. In this paper, we propose to put forth a model for system level test case prioritization (TCP) from software requirement specification to improve user satisfaction with quality software that can also be cost effective and to improve the rate of severe fault detection. The proposed model prioritizes the system test cases based on the six factors: customer priority, changes in requirement, implementation complexity, completeness, traceability and fault impact. The proposed prioritization technique is validated with two different validation techniques and is experimented in three phases with student projects and two sets of industrial projects and the results show convincingly that the proposed prioritization technique improves the rate of severe fault detection.     

An improved method for test case prioritization by incorporating historical test case data

Test case prioritization reorders test cases from a previous version of a software system for the current release to optimize regression testing. We have previously introduced a technique for test case prioritization using historical test case performance data. The technique was based on a test case prioritization equation, which directly computes the priority of each test case using the historical information of the test case using an equation with constant coefficients. This technique was compared just with random ordering approach. In this paper, we present an enhancement of the aforementioned technique in two ways. First, we propose a new prioritization equation with variable coefficients gained according to the available historical performance data, which acts as a feedback from the previous test sessions. Second, a family of comprehensive empirical studies has been conducted to evaluate the performance of the technique. We have compared the proposed technique with our previous technique and the technique proposed by Kim and Porter. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique in accelerating the rate of fault detection in history-based test case prioritization.     

基于聚类算法的测试用例排序

在软件开发过程中,回归测试是一项重要而复杂耗时的工作。测试用例排序技术作为提高测试效率的一种有效手段,是近年的研究热点之一。测试用例排序技术根据测试目标对测试用例进行排序,使得最优的测试用例能够优先执行。同时,各种软件信息的底层结构及关联信息有助于提高测试效率。不同的代码单元在测试过程中拥有不同的测试需求。因此,利用聚类算法能够有效地分析测试用例间的结构信息,从而指导测试用例的排序过程。实验结果表明,新的测试用例排序策略有效地提高了测试用例排序的效果,能够更早地检测到软件错误。     

测试用例排序的研究

回归测试是一个成本很高的测试过程。为了减少回归测试的成本,可以使用测试用例排序技术。测试用例排序是指按照事先确定的目标重新安排测试用例集中测试用例的执行次序,使得具有高优先级的测试用例比低优先级的测试用例在测试过程中更早执行。本文描述了测试用例排序问题;给出了两个一般测试用例排序算法,即总计排序算法和 附加排序算法;根据不同的覆盖准则（如语句、分支和定义-使用等）,可以从这两个一般算法得到对应的排序算法;最后,讨论了测试用例排序算法的有效性。     

基于定值-引用链的测试用例优先级排序算法

测试用例优先级排序作为一种高效实用的回归测试技术,通常以测试用例的覆盖度作为优先级排序的量化指标,忽略了测试用例的其他测试性能。针对该问题,提出一种基于DU链的测试用例优先级排序算法。该算法 综合考虑 测试用例的DU链覆盖度和回归测试的错误检测能力,对测试用例优先级进行量化。与已有算法相比,该算法基于数据流覆盖,充分利用了测试执行的历史信息和程序模块的耦合信息,在排序过程中动态计算测试用例的优先级量化值。实验结果表明,采用优先级排序算法的测试用例集能在测试过程中以较短的时间发现更多的错误,有效地提高了回归测试的检错效率。     

Prioritizing test scenarios from UML communication and activity diagrams

Due to the large size and complexity of software, exhaustive testing becomes impossible. Hence, testing must be done in an optimized way keeping in mind factors, such as requirements of the customer, cost and time. For this, there is a need to generate test cases and exercise them to gain maximum throughput by uncovering defects. Test case/scenario prioritization is a well known and efficient technique to ensure the software quality. Prioritization of test scenarios helps in early detection of bugs. In this paper, we present an integrated approach and a prioritization technique to generate cluster-level test scenarios from UML communication and activity diagrams. In our approach, we first construct a tree representation of communication diagrams, and then a tree representation of activity diagrams. We convert them into an intermediate tree named as COMMACT tree. We, then carry out a post-order traversal of the constructed tree for selecting conditional predicates from the intermediate tree. Then, we propose an algorithm to generate test scenarios from the constructed tree. Next, the necessary information, such as method-activity sequence, associated objects, and constraint conditions is extracted from test scenario. The test sequences are a set of theoretical paths starting from initialization to end, while taking conditions (pre- and post-condition) into consideration. Each generated test sequence corresponds to a particular scenario of the considered use case. The third phase is to generate test scenarios from the tree satisfying the message–activity path test adequacy criteria. Preliminary results obtained on a case-study indicate that the technique is effective in extracting the critical scenarios from the communication and activity diagrams. Our approach generates redundant test scenarios and still achieves adequate test coverage.     

Prioritizing test cases for regression testing

Test case prioritization techniques schedule test cases for execution in an order that attempts to increase their effectiveness at meeting some performance goal. Various goals are possible; one involves rate of fault detection, a measure of how quickly faults are detected within the testing process. An improved rate of fault detection during testing can provide faster feedback on the system under test and let software engineers begin correcting faults earlier than might otherwise be possible. One application of prioritization techniques involves regression testing, the retesting of software following modifications; in this context, prioritization techniques can take advantage of information gathered about the previous execution of test cases to obtain test case orderings. We describe several techniques for using test execution information to prioritize test cases for regression testing, including: 1) techniques that order test cases based on their total coverage of code components; 2) techniques that order test cases based on their coverage of code components not previously covered; and 3) techniques that order test cases based on their estimated ability to reveal faults in the code components that they cover. We report the results of several experiments in which we applied these techniques to various test suites for various programs and measured the rates of fault detection achieved by the prioritized test suites, comparing those rates to the rates achieved by untreated, randomly ordered, and optimally ordered suites     

测试用例集约简问题研究及其进展

测试用例集约简问题是软件测试中的关键问题之一,其目的是使用尽可能少的测试用例充分满足给定的测试目标,从而提高测试效率、降低测试成本。在简要介绍了测试用例集约简问题基本概念的基础上,总结了求解该问题的几种主要方法,分析比较了这些方法的效率和特性。随后探讨了与测试用例集约简问题强相关的测试用例集错误检测效率的问题,并研究了测试用例优先级技术。最后指出了测试用例集约简问题的下一步研究方向。     

Prioritizing JUnit Test Cases: An Empirical Assessment and Cost-Benefits Analysis

Test case prioritization provides a way to run test cases with the highest priority earliest. Numerous empirical studies have shown that prioritization can improve a test suite's rate of fault detection, but the extent to which these results generalize is an open question because the studies have all focused on a single procedural language, C, and a few specific types of test suites. In particular, Java and the JUnit testing framework are being used extensively to build software systems in practice, and the effectiveness of prioritization techniques on Java systems tested under JUnit has not been investigated. We have therefore designed and performed a controlled experiment examining whether test case prioritization can be effective on Java programs tested under JUnit, and comparing the results to those achieved in earlier studies. Our analyses show that test case prioritization can significantly improve the rate of fault detection of JUnit test suites, but also reveal differences with respect to previous studies that can be related to the language and testing paradigm. To investigate the practical implications of these results, we present a set of cost-benefits models for test case prioritization, and show how the effectiveness differences observed can result in savings in practice, but vary substantially with the cost factors associated with particular testing processes.     

Prioritizing MCDC test cases by spectral analysis of Boolean functions

Test case prioritization aims at scheduling test cases in an order that improves some performance goal. One performance goal is a measure of how quickly faults are detected. Such prioritization can be performed by exploiting the fault exposing potential (FEP) parameters associated to the test cases. The FEP is usually approximated by mutation analysis under certain fault assumptions. Although this technique is effective, it could be relatively expensive compared to the other prioritization techniques. This study proposes a cost‐effective FEP approximation for prioritizing modified condition decision coverage (MCDC) test cases. A strict negative correlation between the FEP of an MCDC test case and the influence value of the associated input condition allows to order the test cases easily without the need of an extensive mutation analysis. The method is entirely based on mathematics and it provides useful insight into how spectral analysis of Boolean functions can benefit software testing.     

Experiments with test case prioritization using relevant slices

Software testing and retesting occurs continuously during the software development lifecycle to detect errors as early as possible and to gain confidence that changes to software do not introduce defects. Once developed, test suites are reused and updated frequently, and their sizes grow as software evolves. Due to time and resource constraints, an important goal during regression testing of software is to prioritize the execution of test cases in a suite so as to improve the chances of increasing the rate of fault detection. Prior techniques for test case prioritization are based on the total number of coverage requirements exercised by the test cases. In this paper, we present a new approach to prioritize test cases that takes into account the coverage requirements present in the relevant slices of the outputs of test cases. We have implemented three different heuristics based on our relevant slicing based approach to prioritize test cases and conducted experiments to compare the effectiveness of our techniques with those of the traditional techniques that only account for the total requirement coverage. Our detailed experimental study and results provide interesting insights into the effectiveness of using relevant slices for test case prioritization in terms of ability to achieve high rate of fault detection.     

Similarity-based test case prioritization using ordered sequences of program entities

Test suites often grow very large over many releases, such that it is impractical to re-execute all test cases within limited resources. Test case prioritization rearranges test cases to improve the effectiveness of testing. Code coverage has been widely used as criteria in test case prioritization. However, the simple way may not reveal some bugs, such that the fault detection rate decreases. In this paper, we use the ordered sequences of program entities to improve the effectiveness of test case prioritization. The execution frequency profiles of test cases are collected and transformed into the ordered sequences. We propose several novel similarity-based test case prioritization techniques based on the edit distances of ordered sequences. An empirical study of five open source programs was conducted. The experimental results show that our techniques can significantly increase the fault detection rate and be effective in detecting faults in loops. Moreover, our techniques are more cost-effective than the existing techniques.     

利用佳点集遗传算法的白盒测试用例优先排序

在软件演化过程中,测试用例优先排序作为一种高效实用的回归测试技术,对于提高缺陷的早期检测速率和降低测试成本有重要意义。针对传统遗传算法在白盒测试用例优先排序中收敛速度慢和稳定性差的问题,采用佳点集遗传算法求解白盒测试用例优先排序问题。算法根据程序实体覆盖矩阵对个体进行编码,以程序实体覆盖平均百分比作为适应度函数,采用随机抽样选择算子和佳点集交叉算子产生新一代种群。实验选择6个典型的基准开源项目,以语句、分支和方法作为程序实体,实验结果表明佳点集遗传算法收敛速度快、稳定性好,为回归测试提供了一个有效的测试用例优先排序方法,有助于尽早发现软件缺陷,降低测试成本。     

基于OTT策略的组合测试用例优先级排序方法

在组合测试用例优先级排序问题中,通常采用组合覆盖率为排序标准,该方法能够尽快满足覆盖率的要求,但其排序影响因子较为单一,缺陷检测能力不稳定。针对此问题,该文结合One-Test-at-a-Time（OTT）策略提出了一种在线调整的组合测试用例优先级排序方法,引入多重待覆盖率、测试用例失效率和测试用例重要程度3个影响因子用于衡量组合测试用例优先级。根据测试用例的在线测试反馈信息,该方法能够实时调整组合测试用例的优先级,增加了优先级排序的准确性。实验结果表明,相较于original、基于单一覆盖和多重覆盖的组合测试优先级排序方法,该方法在缺陷检测能力和稳定性上具有更强的竞争力。     

基于历史数据和多目标优化的测试用例排序方法

针对如何提高测试用例序列的揭错效率和回归测试效益问题,提出一种基于历史数据和多目标优化的测试用例排序方法。首先,根据测试用例的文本主题相似性和代码覆盖相似性对测试用例集进行聚类,并根据历史执行信息对测试用例间的执行失败关系进行关联规则挖掘,从而为后续过程做准备;然后,利用多目标优化算法对每个类簇内的测试用例进行排序,在此之后生成最终排序序列,使相似的测试用例分隔开;最后,利用测试用例间的关联规则,动态调整测试用例执行次序,从而使可能失败的测试用例优先执行,以进一步提高缺陷检测效率。与随机排序方法、基于聚类的排序方法、基于主题模型的排序方法、基于关联规则和多目标优化的排序方法相比,所提方法的平均故障检测率（APFD）平均值分别提高了12.59%、5.98%、3.01%和2.95%,基于成本的平均故障检测率（APFDc）平均值分别提高了17.17%、5.04%、5.08%和8.21%。实验结果表明,所提方法能有效提高回归测试效益。     

基于需求的系统级黑盒测试用例优先化方法

测试用例优先化技术有利于提高测试的质量和效率。文章提出了一种在系统测试阶段基于需求的测试用例优先化方法TRP,并通过实验结果加以验证。与随机方法对测试用例排序的测试相比,TRP方法能尽早发现软件严重缺陷并提高缺陷检测率。     

一个划算的回归测试用例排序的成本-收益模型

回归测试是一个昂贵的测试过程,它验证修改的软件,确认是否给已经测试的代码引进了新的错误.因为在软件开发的过程中,测试人员给测试包中增加了新的测试用例,使软件确认更加困难.为了使回归测试更经济划算,提出了很多技术和方法.测试用例选择,测试包缩减,测试用例排序可以帮助我们减少需要运行的测试用例数目,同时能够更快地满足测试目标.测试用例排序是在满足某个性能目标的基础上,保证在测试过程中首先执行更重要的功能.以前的研究提出了一个性能目标:缺陷发现率(APFD),以及很多改善缺陷发现率的技术.但是这些技术运用起来非常昂贵,而且可能不会减少回归测试的成本.在以往研究的基础上,提出了一个成本-收益模型,为比较各种排序算法提供了一定依据.并在此基础上,提供了一个测试用例排序算法.     

Regression testing minimization,selection and prioritization: a survey

Regression testing is a testing activity that is performed to provide confidence that changes do not harm the existing behaviour of the software. Test suites tend to grow in size as software evolves, often making it too costly to execute entire test suites. A number of different approaches have been studied to maximize the value of the accrued test suite: minimization, selection and prioritization. Test suite minimization seeks to eliminate redundant test cases in order to reduce the number of tests to run. Test case selection seeks to identify the test cases that are relevant to some set of recent changes. Test case prioritization seeks to order test cases in such a way that early fault detection is maximized. This paper surveys each area of minimization, selection and prioritization technique and discusses open problems and potential directions for future research. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A history-based cost-cognizant test case prioritization technique in regression testing

Software testing is typically used to verify whether the developed software product meets its requirements. From the result of software testing, developers can make an assessment about the quality or the acceptability of developed software. It is noted that during testing, the test case is a pair of input and expected output, and a number of test cases will be executed either sequentially or randomly. The techniques of test case prioritization usually schedule test cases for regression testing in an order that attempts to increase the effectiveness. However, the cost of test cases and the severity of faults are usually varied. In this paper, we propose a method of cost-cognizant test case prioritization based on the use of historical records. We gather the historical records from the latest regression testing and then propose a genetic algorithm to determine the most effective order. Some controlled experiments are performed to evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed method. Evaluation results indicate that our proposed method has improved the fault detection effectiveness. It can also been found that prioritizing test cases based on their historical information can provide high test effectiveness during testing.