Abstract
Unit test development has some widely accepted guidelines. Two of them concern the test and code relationship, namely isolation (unit tests should examine only a single unit) and separation (they should be placed next to this unit). These guidelines are not always kept by the developers. They can however be checked by investigating the relationship between tests and the source code, which is described by test-to-code traceability links. Still, these links perhaps cannot be inferred unambiguously from the test and production code. We developed a method that is based on the computation of traceability links for different aspects and report Structural Unit Test Smells where the traceability links for the different aspects do not match. The two aspects are the static structure of the code that reflects the intentions of the developers and testers and the dynamic coverage which reveals the actual behavior of the code during test execution. In this study, we investigated this method on real programs. We manually checked the reported Structural Unit Test Smells to find out whether they are real violations of the unit testing rules. Furthermore, the smells were analyzed to determine their root causes and possible ways of correction.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 903-919 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Acta Cybernetica |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 1 2018 |
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Keywords
- Code coverage
- Refactoring
- Test smells
- Test-to-code traceability
- Unit testing
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Theoretical Computer Science
- Software
- Computer Science (miscellaneous)
- Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
- Management Science and Operations Research
- Information Systems and Management
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Cite this
Analysis of static and dynamic test-to-code traceability information. / Gergely, Tamás; Balogh, Gergő; Horváth, F.; Vancsics, Béla; Beszédes, A.; Gyimóthy, T.
In: Acta Cybernetica, Vol. 23, No. 3, 01.01.2018, p. 903-919.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Analysis of static and dynamic test-to-code traceability information
AU - Gergely, Tamás
AU - Balogh, Gergő
AU - Horváth, F.
AU - Vancsics, Béla
AU - Beszédes, A.
AU - Gyimóthy, T.
PY - 2018/1/1
Y1 - 2018/1/1
N2 - Unit test development has some widely accepted guidelines. Two of them concern the test and code relationship, namely isolation (unit tests should examine only a single unit) and separation (they should be placed next to this unit). These guidelines are not always kept by the developers. They can however be checked by investigating the relationship between tests and the source code, which is described by test-to-code traceability links. Still, these links perhaps cannot be inferred unambiguously from the test and production code. We developed a method that is based on the computation of traceability links for different aspects and report Structural Unit Test Smells where the traceability links for the different aspects do not match. The two aspects are the static structure of the code that reflects the intentions of the developers and testers and the dynamic coverage which reveals the actual behavior of the code during test execution. In this study, we investigated this method on real programs. We manually checked the reported Structural Unit Test Smells to find out whether they are real violations of the unit testing rules. Furthermore, the smells were analyzed to determine their root causes and possible ways of correction.
AB - Unit test development has some widely accepted guidelines. Two of them concern the test and code relationship, namely isolation (unit tests should examine only a single unit) and separation (they should be placed next to this unit). These guidelines are not always kept by the developers. They can however be checked by investigating the relationship between tests and the source code, which is described by test-to-code traceability links. Still, these links perhaps cannot be inferred unambiguously from the test and production code. We developed a method that is based on the computation of traceability links for different aspects and report Structural Unit Test Smells where the traceability links for the different aspects do not match. The two aspects are the static structure of the code that reflects the intentions of the developers and testers and the dynamic coverage which reveals the actual behavior of the code during test execution. In this study, we investigated this method on real programs. We manually checked the reported Structural Unit Test Smells to find out whether they are real violations of the unit testing rules. Furthermore, the smells were analyzed to determine their root causes and possible ways of correction.
KW - Code coverage
KW - Refactoring
KW - Test smells
KW - Test-to-code traceability
KW - Unit testing
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U2 - 10.14232/actacyb.23.3.2018.11
DO - 10.14232/actacyb.23.3.2018.11
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85052407712
VL - 23
SP - 903
EP - 919
JO - Acta Cybernetica
JF - Acta Cybernetica
SN - 0324-721X
IS - 3
ER -