Comparing logic coverage criteria on test case prioritization

• Published in: Science China. Information sciences Vol. 55; no. 12; pp. 2826 - 2840
• Main Authors: Fang, ChunRong, Chen, ZhenYu, Xu, BaoWen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg SP Science China Press 01-12-2012; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Computer Science; Criteria; Information Systems and Communication Service; Logic; Research Paper; Safety critical; Software testing; 优先级; 安全关键软件; 标准; 测试准则; 测试用例; 覆盖准则; 软件测试; 逻辑覆盖; fault-based testing; fault detection capability; logic coverage; test case prioritization
• ISSN: 1674-733X; 1869-1919
• DOI: 10.1007/s11432-012-4746-9

Logic coverage criteria have been widely used in the testing of safety-critical software. In the past few years, fault-based logic coverage criteria have been studied intensively both in theory and in practice. However, there is a lack of authentic evidence of the comparison of fault-based logic coverage criteria with other logic coverage criteria, such as branch coverage and modified condition/decision coverage （MC/DC）. In this paper, we present a comprehensive empirical study that compares these logic coverage criteria on test case prioritization, which is currently a hot topic in software testing. Several useful conclusions are drawn from our research： （1） Fine-grained coverage criteria are always more effective and efficient. （2） The effectiveness of fault-based logic coverage criteria is not significantly different from that of MC/DC in terms of statistics, but the former is more stable. （3） A random strategy is more effective than branch coverage if a certain number of test cases are redundant.