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Prioritization of combinatorial test cases by incremental interaction coverage

Huang, Rubing; Xie, Xiaodong; Towey, Dave; Chen, Tsong Yueh; Lu, Yansheng; Chen, Jinfu

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Authors

Rubing Huang

Xiaodong Xie

Dave Towey

Tsong Yueh Chen

Yansheng Lu

Jinfu Chen



Abstract

Combinatorial testing is a well-recognized testing method, and has been widely applied in practice. To facilitate analysis, a common approach is to assume that all test cases in a combinatorial test suite have the same fault detection capability. However, when testing resources are limited, the order of executing the test cases is critical. To improve testing cost-effectiveness, prioritization of combinatorial test cases is employed. The most popular approach is based on interaction coverage, which prioritizes combinatorial test cases by repeatedly choosing an unexecuted test case that covers the largest number on uncovered parameter value combinations of a given strength (level of interaction among parameters). However, this approach suffers from some drawbacks. Based on previous observations that the majority of faults in practical systems can usually be triggered with parameter interactions of small strengths, we propose a new strategy of prioritizing combinatorial test cases by incrementally adjusting the strength values. Experimental results show that our method performs better than the random prioritization technique and the technique of prioritizing combinatorial test suites according to test case generation order, and has better performance than the interaction-coverage-based test prioritization technique in most cases.

Citation

Huang, R., Xie, X., Towey, D., Chen, T. Y., Lu, Y., & Chen, J. (2013). Prioritization of combinatorial test cases by incremental interaction coverage. International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, 23(10), https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218194013500459

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 29, 2013
Publication Date Dec 1, 2013
Deposit Date May 17, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering
Print ISSN 0218-1940
Electronic ISSN 0218-1940
Publisher World Scientific
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 23
Issue 10
DOI https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218194013500459
Keywords Software testing; combinatorial testing; test case prioritization; interaction coverage; incremental interaction coverage; algorithm
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/719071
Publisher URL https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0218194013500459

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