Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.17559/TV-20170324111348

A hybrid backtracking algorithm for automatic test data generation

Ying Xing ; Automation school, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, No. 10, Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
Yunzhan Gong ; State Key laboratory of Networking and Switching Technology, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, No. 10, Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
Xiaoguang Zhou ; Automation school, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, No. 10, Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
Ludi Wang orcid.org/0000-0002-9346-6250 ; Automation school, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, No. 10, Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
Mengke Yang ; Automation school, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, No. 10, Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
Chi Zhang ; Automation school, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, No. 10, Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
Yukun Dong ; College of Computer & Communication Engineering, China University of Petroleum, No. 66, Changjiang West Road, Huangdao District, Qingdao, Shan dong, China

Abstract

As a fundamental issue in software testing, automatic test data generation is of crucial importance, which is essentially a constraint satisfaction problem and solved by search algorithms. In our previous research, branch and bound was proposed as our constraint solver and the look-ahead methods were elaborated. Based on interval arithmetic and symbolic execution, this paper focuses on the look-back or backtracking method, which is the hybridization of forward checking and conflict-directed backjumping, with the aim of improving the efficiency of backtracking in the search procedure. The closures of variables are used to facilitate the localization of the conflicts which cause dead ends. Empirical experiments prove the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid backtracking method and its applicability in engineering.

Keywords

automatic test data generation; backtracking; closure; conflict-directed backjumping; forward checking

Hrčak ID:

183035

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/183035

Publication date:

15.6.2017.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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