Foundations of Software Testing: Fundamental Algorithms and Techniques

Test Adequacy Assessment

the mutant created is indeed incorrect. As we show in the remainder of

this chapter, testing using mutation often leads to the discovery of sub-

tle flaws in the program under test. This discovery usually takes place

when a tester tries to show that the mutant is an incorrect solution to the

problem at hand.

7.3 TEST ASSESSMENT USING MUTATION

Now that we know what mutation is, and what mutants look like, let us

understand how mutation is used for assessing the adequacy of a test set.

The problem of test assessment using mutation can be stated as follows:

Let P be a program under test, T a test set for P, and R the set of requirements that

P must meet. Suppose that P has been tested against all tests in T and found to be

correct ...