Generating test data for both paths coverage and faults detection using genetic algorithms: multi-path case

doi:10.1007/s11704-014-3372-7

Front. Comput. Sci.

2014, Vol. 8

Issue (5) : 726-740 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11704-014-3372-7

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Generating test data for both paths coverage and faults detection using genetic algorithms: multi-path case

Yan ZHANG^1,²,Dunwei GONG^2,^*(

)

1. School of Technology,Mudanjiang Normal University,Mudanjiang 157012, China
2. School of Information and Electrical Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China

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Abstract

Generating test data that can expose the faults of the program is an important issue in software testing. Although previous methods of covering path can generate test data to traverse target path, the test data generated by these methods are difficult in detecting some low-probabilistic faults that lie on the covered paths. We present a method of generating test data for covering multiple paths to detect faults in this study. First, we transform the problem of covering multiple paths and detecting faults into a multi-objective optimization problem with constraint, and construct a mathematical model for it. Then, we give a strategy of solving the model based on a weighted genetic algorithm. Finally, we apply our method to several real-world programs, and compare it with several methods. The experimental results confirm that the proposed method can more efficiently generate test data that not only traverse the target paths but also detect faults lying in them than other methods.

Keywords software testing multiple paths coverage faults detection multi-objective optimization

Corresponding Author(s): Dunwei GONG

Issue Date: 11 October 2014

Cite this article:

Yan ZHANG,Dunwei GONG. Generating test data for both paths coverage and faults detection using genetic algorithms: multi-path case[J]. Front. Comput. Sci., 2014, 8(5): 726-740.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcs/EN/10.1007/s11704-014-3372-7
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcs/EN/Y2014/V8/I5/726

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