Event-Based Mutation Testing vs. State-Based Mutation Testing - An Experimental Comparison

Model-based testing (MBT) focuses on relevant, mostly user-centric features of the system under consideration (SUC) and enables test case generation without requiring source code. Depending on these features and the preferences of the tester, modeling can be event-based or state-based. This paper compares both techniques using mutation testing, which is originally code-based, but has recently been extended to enable also MBT. For the comparison, the paper introduces frameworks that are composed of a set of models, a set of mutation operators, a set of coverage criteria, and a set of test generation algorithms. The introduced concepts and notions are demonstrated over a case study based on a large web-based commercial portal. Analysis of the experimental data yields results on the discussed frameworks reviewing benefits and drawbacks of event-based and state-based testing.