Evaluation of t-wise Approach for Testing Logical Expressions in Software

Pair-wise and, more generally, t-wise testing are the most common and powerful combinatorial testing approaches. This paper investigates the effectiveness of the t-wise approach for testing logical expressions in software in terms of its fault detecting capabilities. Effectiveness is evaluated experimentally using special software tools for generating logical expressions and t-wise test cases, simulating faults in expressions, testing faulty expressions, and evaluating effectiveness of the testing. T-wise testing effectiveness is measured in its totality and for specific types of faults; it is then compared with random testing. A detailed analysis of the experimental results is also provided.