APPLICATION OF RIVER FORMATION DYNAMICS IN SEARCH BASED SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

Abstract

Search Based Software Engineering (SBSE) is an emerging field, involves applying search based techniques to address the various problems related to different domains of software engineering. It is specially excelled in providing an ideally balanced solution to a software engineering problem involving several competing goals and provides optimal solution to give better prospects over tools and techniques required to grow a productive, proficient and cohesive approach. Software testing is the area which is benefitted the most. Although there are many testing related problems which are solved by search based techniques, but automatic test data generation is the prime activity, capturing researcher’s attention these days. Test path generation and prioritization is one of the important activities to reduce test effort. But it hardly gets importance in the existing literature as only few researchers have attempted to generate test sequences using different search based algorithms (Ant Colony Optimization, Genetic Algorithm, Tabu Search, Cuckoo Search, Firefly Algorithm), each having their own merits and demerits. Ideally none of them is perfect as far as complete path coverage and redundancy is concerned. This dissertation aims at carrying the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis of the area i.e. search based software engineering and improving the efficiency of software testing process by generating the optimal test sequences in the control flow graph (CFG) of the program under test (PUT) by using a novel swarm intelligence method called River Formation Dynamics(RFD), inspired by a natural phenomena of how drops transformed into river and then river into sea. It provides full path coverage with zero redundancy in transitions vi from one node to another. It also tries to prioritize the paths based on their strength, calculated in terms of their traversal by the drops.