Grupo Alarcos · Journal article · 2014
Mutation testing
Pedro Reales Mateo, Macario Polo Usaola, Jose Luis Fernández Alemán, Ambrosio Toval Álvarez, Mario Piattini Velthuis
This article gives a short overview of the main characteristics of mutation tools. If a test suite finds all the artificial errors inserted in the mutants and finds no fault in the original, it's likely that the program under test is free of them. Obviously, the validity of this affirmation depends on the nature of the artificial fault: some of them are better than others. This testing technique has been used in the research arena to check the effectiveness of new proposed testing techniques, but it hasn't been used until recently in industry due to its costs and the lack of knowledge and industrial tools.