2004 · 301 citations · 12 references
Software MaintenanceEngineeringTest CoverageServer SoftwareSoftware EngineeringSoftware AnalysisSocial SciencesN-degree CombinationsEmpirical Software Engineering ResearchComputational TestingTest AutomationSystems EngineeringTestabilityStatisticsReliabilityTesting TechniqueDesignComputer ScienceSoftware DesignFuture ThinkingProgram AnalysisSoftware TestingTest Case DesignCombinatorial Testing WorkflowHigher N-degree Combinations
Design‑of‑experiments based testing promises high coverage at low cost, yet empirical evidence on the effectiveness of such tools remains limited. The study analyzes error reports from a browser and a web server to determine the optimal n‑degree for different software classes and to assess whether this optimal value varies across software types. The authors examine whether higher‑degree combinations yield diminishing returns by comparing error detection rates for 2‑ to 6‑way combinations. Results indicate that 4‑way combinations detect over 95 % of errors, and that error detection rates for 2‑ to 6‑way combinations are similar between the browser and the server.
Approaches to software testing based on methods from the field of design of experiments have been advocated as a means of providing high coverage at relatively low cost. Tools to generate all pairs, or higher n-degree combinations, of input values have been developed and demonstrated in a few applications, but little empirical evidence is available to aid developers in evaluating the effectiveness of these tools for particular problems. We investigate error reports from two large open-source software projects, a browser and Web server, to provide preliminary answers to three questions: Is there a point of diminishing returns at which generating all n-degree combinations is nearly as effective as all n+1-degree combinations? What is the appropriate value of n for particular classes of software? Does this value differ for different types of software, and by how much? Our findings suggest that more than 95% of errors in the software studied would be detected by test cases that cover all 4-way combinations of values, and that the browser and server software were similar in the percentage of errors detectable by combinations of degree 2 through 6.
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Model-based testing in practice
Siddhartha R. Dalal, Ashish Jain, N. Karunanithi et al. · 1999 · 510 citations · Full text
The combinatorial design approach to automatic test generation
David Cohen, Siddhartha R. Dalal, Jesse M. Parelius et al. · IEEE Software · 1996 · 376 citations