An Analysis and Survey of the Development of Mutation Testing

TLDR

Mutation Testing is a fault‑based software testing technique that has been widely studied for over three decades, with literature contributing approaches, tools, developments, and empirical results. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis and survey of Mutation Testing and presents results of several development trend analyses. The analyses show that Mutation Testing techniques and tools are maturing and becoming applicable, while interest in the topic is increasing.

Abstract

Mutation Testing is a fault-based software testing technique that has been widely studied for over three decades. The literature on Mutation Testing has contributed a set of approaches, tools, developments, and empirical results. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis and survey of Mutation Testing. The paper also presents the results of several development trend analyses. These analyses provide evidence that Mutation Testing techniques and tools are reaching a state of maturity and applicability, while the topic of Mutation Testing itself is the subject of increasing interest.