An Improved and Optimized Random Forest Based Approach to Predict the Software Faults

Abstract

Effective software fault prediction is crucial for minimizing errors during software development and preventing subsequent failures. This research introduces an enhanced Random Forest-based approach for predicting software faults, specifically focusing on the NASA JM1 dataset. The dataset comprises 21 software metrics indicating the presence or absence of faults in a module, and it is utilized to evaluate the proposed approach. The study delves into the intricacies of the NASA dataset, detailing the cleaning process and addressing class imbalance through Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE). The core of our approach involves the implementation and fine-tuning of the Random Forest classifier, with a specific focus on optimizing hyperparameters to enhance predictive accuracy. In comparative evaluations with standard machine learning models, our proposed approach demonstrated superior performance, achieving an accuracy of 82.96% and an F1 score of 89.53%. Notably, we emphasize the significance of software defects and their potential to cause failures and crashes during software development, leading to substantial organizational losses. The paper provides a comprehensive examination of different aspects of the machine learning model, offering detailed insights, examples, and illustrative figures to enhance the understanding of our proposed approach.