Joseph Richardson Undergraduate Dissertation 2014/15

Mutation testing as a web-based game

Supervised by G.Fraser

Abstract

Mutation testing is a process in which test cases are tested through changong the original code, mutating it. These small chamges are known as mutants, and the purpose of mutation testing is to write the test cases so they detect these mutants. Once all the mutants have been detected and killed, the original code code can be tested with these new and improved tests, hopefully producing better code.

It is not a process that is used commonly, and this project hopes to make it a more attractive testing technique to developers so that better tests and therefore better code is produced.

This will be achieved with the aid of gamification methods and the end result of the project should be an online application that users can access mutation testing challenges, be given a score for completing challenges, upload their own challenges and be ranked among other users with their scores.