Finding failure-inducing changes in Java programs using change classification

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“Finding failure-inducing changes in Java programs using change classification” by Maximilian Stoerzer, Barbara G. Ryder, Xiaoxia Ren, and Frank Tip. In FSE 2006: Proceedings of the ACM SIGSOFT 14th Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering, (Portland, OR, USA), Nov. 2006, pp. 57-68.
A previous version appeared as “Finding failure-inducing changes using change classification” by Maximilian Stoerzer, Barbara G. Ryder, Xiaoxia Ren, and Frank Tip. Rutgers University Department of Computer Science technical report DCS-TR-582, Sep. 2005.

Abstract

Testing and code editing are interleaved activities during program development. When tests fail unexpectedly, the changes that caused the failure(s) are not always easy to find. We explore how change classification can focus programmer attention on failure-inducing changes by automatically labeling changes Red, Yellow, or Green, indicating the likelihood that they have contributed to a test failure. We implemented our change classification tool JUnit/CIA as an extension to the JUnit component within Eclipse, and evaluated its effectiveness in two case studies. Our results indicate that change classification is an effective technique for finding failure-inducing changes.

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BibTeX entry:

@inproceedings{StoerzerRRT2006,
   author = {Maximilian Stoerzer and Barbara G. Ryder and Xiaoxia Ren and
	Frank Tip},
   title = {Finding failure-inducing changes in {Java} programs using
	change classification},
   booktitle = {FSE 2006: Proceedings of the {ACM} {SIGSOFT} 14th
	Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering},
   pages = {57--68},
   address = {Portland, OR, USA},
   month = nov,
   year = {2006}
}