Software Testing And Quality Assurance Questions Medium
Mutation testing is a technique used in software testing to evaluate the effectiveness of a test suite by measuring its ability to detect faults or bugs in the code. It involves introducing small, intentional changes or mutations in the source code and then running the existing test cases to determine if these mutations are detected.
The concept behind mutation testing is based on the idea that if a test suite is of high quality, it should be able to identify these mutations as faults. The mutations are typically introduced by making small changes to the code, such as altering an operator, changing a variable value, or modifying a conditional statement. These changes are designed to simulate common programming errors or mistakes that developers might make.
Once the mutations are introduced, the existing test suite is executed against the mutated code. If the test suite fails to detect a mutation, it indicates a weakness in the test suite, suggesting that it may not be able to identify similar faults in the actual code. On the other hand, if the test suite successfully detects the mutations, it demonstrates that the test suite is effective in identifying potential faults.
Mutation testing helps in assessing the quality of the test suite by measuring its ability to detect faults. It provides a quantitative measure of the test suite's effectiveness by calculating the mutation score, which represents the percentage of mutations that are detected by the test suite. A higher mutation score indicates a more robust and effective test suite.
Overall, mutation testing is a powerful technique in software testing that helps in evaluating the quality of test suites and identifying areas for improvement. It provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of the testing process and helps in enhancing the overall quality and reliability of the software.