Experiments determining best paths for testing computer program predicates
Lee White, Prabhat N. Sahay · International Conference on Software Engineering · 1985
Zeil has developed a vector space measure which indicates those paths which best detect errors in a selected program predicate. This measure has to be applied to a set of paths post hoc, and so the problem is to heuristically characterize those paths which will provide maximal test information about the selected predicate; the problem of selecting the optimal set of paths is NP-hard. Experiments have been conducted which utilize the vector space criterion to indicate those characteristics of paths which can best be used to test a given predicate. These characteristics will then provide a selection mechanism for an appropriate set of paths. Other questions involve the selection of those paths which sufficiently test all the program predicates, and to experimentally identify those program properties which lead to an irreducible error space for a predicate.