Mutation Testing of "Go-Back" Functions Based on Pushdown Automata

A go-back (GB) function for canceling recent user or system operations and going back to and resuming of previous state(s) is very often used regardless of the application domain. Therefore, faulty handling of them can cause severe damages in those applications. This paper proposes a mutation-based approach to testing GB functions modeled by pushdown automata. Novel mutation operators, recent coverage criteria, and a new algorithm for test case generation are introduced. A case study validates the approach and discusses its characteristics.