A Progressive Refinement Approach for JAVA Regression Test Selection

Regression test is an important part in software development and maintenance. After changing, in order to assure the validity of the modified part and validate there is no side affect to other parts, we must carry out the process of regression test. This paper makes use of the characteristic of hierarchy of Java, first choose the impacted packages. Then by analyzing the relationship of classes in these packages, we can get a set of classes that are impacted by the change. After that, we choose these classes to make a class member dependence analysis, then we can get a set of class members that are impacted by the change. Finally by mapping class members selected to test cases and add some test cases if necessary, we can get a test suite that should be retested. Use this progressive refinement approach, we only need to analyze part of the software and retest the impacted part, and this can reduce the cost of regression test especially when the software is huge.