Closing the Defect Reduction Gap between Software Inspection and Test-Driven Development: Applying Mutation Analysis to Iterative Test-First Programming

摘要

After demonstrating the existence of a defect reduction gap between software inspection and test-driven development (TDD), this dissertation will present and evaluate a method of applying mutation analysis to iterative, test-first (ITF) programming methods such as TDD. The application of mutation analysis will add important stopping criteria to ITF programming, while capitalizing on the iterative and incremental nature of ITF to improve the performance of mutation analysis. The application of mutation analysis to ITF should provide a method for individual software developers to gain many of the software defect reduction benefits of software inspection without the expense, organizational change, and management support required to successfully implement software inspection. The research will be conducted using a design science approach to create and evaluate two new artifacts: an enhanced test-driven development method and a prototype mutation analysis system designed to capitalize on the iterative and incremental nature of ITF.