Aim
Tests can be created to verify the correctness of the implementation of a given software system, but the creation of tests still poses the question whether the tests are correct and sufficiently cover the requirements that have originated the implementation. (This technological problem is itself an instance of a deeper philosophical problem named "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" .) In this context, mutation testing was pioneered in the 1970s to locate and expose weaknesses in test suites. The theory was that if a mutation was introduced without the behavior (generally output) of the program being affected, this indicated either that the code that had been mutated was never executed (redundant code) or that the testing suite was unable to locate the injected fault. In order for this to function at any scale, a large number of mutations had to be introduced into a large program, leading to the compilation and execution of an extremely large number of copies of the program. This problem of the expense of mutation testing had reduced its practical use as a method of software testing, but the increased use of object oriented programming languages and unit testing frameworks has led to the creation of mutation testing tools for many programming languages as a means to test individual portions of an application.
Read more about this topic: Mutation Testing
Famous quotes containing the word aim:
“A poet is no rattlebrain, saying what comes uppermost, and, because he says every thing, saying, at last, something good; but a heart in unison with his time and country. There is nothing whimsical or fantastic in his production, but sweet and sad earnest, freighted with the weightiest convictions, and pointed with the most determined aim which any man or class knows of in his times.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)
“Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.”
—C.C. (Charles Caleb)