Statistical Investigation on Class Mutation Operators

Abstract

Although mutation testing is potentially powerful, it is a computationally expensive testing method. To investigate how we can reduce the cost of object-oriented mutation testing, we have conducted empirical studies on class mutation operators. We applied class mutation operators to 866 classes contained in six open-source programs. An analysis of the number and the distribution of class mutants generated and preliminary data on the effectiveness of some operators are provided. Our study shows that the overall number of class mutants is smaller than for traditional mutants, which offers the possibility that class mutation can be made practically affordable.