Software test suite minimization using ant colony optimization

Abstract

In the fast pacing technological era, the key to a successful software industry is quick delivery of high quality software to the clients. This high quality is achieved by performing software testing on the product. The high quality product ensures stakeholder’s satisfaction which in turn spreads good word about the software industry making it a success. In this paper, we will focus on the problems faced during regression testing and how the same can be handled. Regression testing is a critical activity done during the software maintenance phase of the software development cycle. However, it has countless underlying issues like effective test case generation and prioritization, etc which need to be dealt with. These issues demand effort, time and cost of the testing. Different techniques and methodologies have been proposed for taking care of these issues. Use of Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) for test suite minimization has been an area of interest for many researchers. This paper presents an implementation of ACO for test suite minimization, showcasing how arbitrary nature of ACO helps choose an optimal solution to the problem.