Incremental Just-In-Time Test Generation in Lock-Step with Code Development

Abstract

State-of-the-art test generation strategies employ advanced analyses of the code under test and powerful optimization algorithms to generate automatic test cases for software systems. As these techniques require a large amount of computational power, they are often limited to generating tests after the code under test is already written. However, today’s broad education about the importance of software testing lets developers strive to create test cases directly with new code they are contributing. To support these developers, we want to develop an incremental just-in-time test generation tool that works in close proximity to the development of the code under test. Whenever the developer creates a new class or functionality, the tool automatically proposes a matching test case. When the developer finishes implementing a new condition, the tool automatically recommends an additional test case that tests the code which was just added. The generated test cases are closely based on the existing test cases in the project with small, incremental changes to test the new lines of code. To realize such a just-in-time test generation tool we have to tackle many challenges: Detecting the completion of a test-worthy condition, generating a fitting test case in a short time on the developer’s machine, or effectively communicating the value of the new test case to the developer. With the participants of the SMILESENG Summer School we want discuss our new idea, brainstorm on the challenges that this research opens up and identify possible approaches to tackle them. Index Terms—Software Testing, Automatic