Mutation Testing Checks Quality of Tests

@nicolas_frankel
Mutation Testing to the
rescue of your tests

@nicolas_frankel
• Developer, team lead, architect,
whatever it takes
• Recent Developer Advocate
• Kotlin fanboy
Me, myself and I

@nicolas_frankel
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@nicolas_frankel
• Unit Testing
• Integration Testing
• End-to-end Testing
• Performance Testing
• Penetration Testing
• Exploratory Testing
• etc.
Many kinds of testing

@nicolas_frankel
Ensure the quality of the production
code
Their only single goal
5

@nicolas_frankel
How to check the quality of the
testing code?
The problem
6

@nicolas_frankel
“Code coverage is a measure used to
describe the degree to which the
source code of a program is tested”
--Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_coverage
Code coverage
7

@nicolas_frankel
Check whether a source code line is
executed during a test
• Or Branch Coverage
Measuring Code Coverage
@nicolas_frankel #mutationtesting #devexperience18
8

@nicolas_frankel
Computing Code Coverage
CC =
Lexecuted
Ltotal
*100
• CC: Code
Coverage
(in percent)
• Lexecuted: Number
of executed lines
of code
• Ltotal: Number of
total lines of
code

@nicolas_frankel
• JaCoCo
• Clover
• Cobertura
• etc.
Java Tools for Code Coverage
10

@nicolas_frankel
“Is 100% code coverage realistic? Of
course it is. If you can write a line of
code, you can write another that
tests it.”
Robert Martin (Uncle Bob)
https://twitter.com/unclebobmartin/status/55966
620509667328
100% Code Coverage?
11

@nicolas_frankel
@Test
public void add_should_add() {
new Math().add(1, 1);
}
Assertless testing
But, where is the assert?
As long as the Code Coverage is OK…

@nicolas_frankel
• Any metric can be gamed!
• Code coverage is a metric…
⇒ Code coverage can be gamed
• On purpose
• Or by accident
Code coverage as a measure of quality
13

@nicolas_frankel
• Code Coverage lulls you into a false
sense of security…
Code coverage as a measure of quality
14

@nicolas_frankel
• Code coverage cannot ensure test
quality
• Is there another way?
• Mutation Testing to the rescue!
The problem still stands
15

@nicolas_frankel
The Cast
William Stryker
Original Source Code
Jason Stryker
Modified Source Code
a.k.a “The Mutant”

@nicolas_frankel
public class Math {
public int add(int i1, int i2) {
return i1 + i2;
}
}
public class Math {
return i1 - i2;
}
}

@nicolas_frankel
Standard testing
✔Execute Test

@nicolas_frankel
Mutation testing
?Execute SAME Test
Mutation

@nicolas_frankel
Mutation testing
✗
✔Execute SAME Test
Execute SAME Test
Mutant Killed
Mutant Survived

@nicolas_frankel
• Surviving means changing the
source code did not change the
test result  Bad!
• Killed means changing the source
code changed the test result 
Good!
Killed or Surviving?
21

@nicolas_frankel
Test the code
public class Math {
return i1 + i2;
}
}
✔Execute Test
@Test
}

@nicolas_frankel
✔Execute Test
Surviving mutant
public class Math {
return i1 - i2;
}
}
@Test
}

@nicolas_frankel
Test the code
✔Execute Test
public class Math {
return i1 + i2;
}
}
@Test
Assert.assertEquals(sum, 2);
}

@nicolas_frankel
Killed mutant
✗Execute SAME Test
public class Math {
return i1 + i2;
}
}
@Test
Assert.assertEquals(sum, 2);
}

@nicolas_frankel
• PIT is a tool for Mutation testing
• Available as
• Command-line tool
• Ant target
• Maven plugin
Mutation Testing in Java
26

@nicolas_frankel
Mutators are patterns applied to
source code to produce mutations
Mutators
27

@nicolas_frankel
PIT mutators sample
Name Example source Result
Conditionals Boundary > >=
Negate Conditionals == !=
Remove Conditionals foo == bar true
Math + -
Increments foo++ foo--
Invert Negatives -foo foo
Inline Constant static final FOO= 42 static final FOO = 43
Return Values return true return false
Void Method Call System.out.println("foo")
Non Void Method Call long t = System.currentTimeMillis() long t = 0
Constructor Call Date d = new Date() Date d = null;

@nicolas_frankel
Conditionals Boundary
• Potential serious bug hiding there
• if (foo > bar)
Important mutators
29

@nicolas_frankel
Void Method Call
• Assert.checkNotNull()
• connection.close()
Important mutators
30

@nicolas_frankel
It’s not because the IDE generates
code safely that it will never change
• equals()
• hashCode()
Remember
31

@nicolas_frankel
Sh… (bad stuff) happens
• False positives
• Imperfect
• Sloooooooooooooooow

@nicolas_frankel
if (p < 0)
...
// changed condition boundary -> survived:
if (p > 0)
...
return 0;
Pit is imperfect

@nicolas_frankel
void rebootMachine() {
// removed method call:
checkUserPermissions();
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("reboot");
}
Pit is imperfect

@nicolas_frankel
• Analyze test code
• For each class under test
• For each mutator
• Create mutation
• For each mutation
• Run test
• Analyze result
• Aggregate results
Why so slow?
36

@nicolas_frankel
• Increase number of threads  
• Set a limited a set of mutators
• Limit scope of target classes
• Limit number of tests
• Limit dependency distance
• Use incremental analysis  
• Don’t bind to the test phase  
• Use scmMutationCoverage
Workarounds
37

@nicolas_frankel
• Metadata stored between runs
• Mutant will not be checked again, if:
• killed, and neither class nor test have changed
• survived, and there are no new/changed tests for it
Incremental analysis

@nicolas_frankel
• Checks the relevance of your unit
tests
• Points out potential bugs
Is Mutation Testing the Silver Bullet?
39

@nicolas_frankel
• Validate the assembled application
• Integration Testing
• Check the performance
• Performance Testing
• Look out for display bugs
• End-to-end testing
• Etc.
The rest is up to you
40

@nicolas_frankel
• Don’t test to achieve 100%
coverage
• Test because it saves money in the
long run
• Prioritize:
• Business-critical code
• Complex code
Testing is about ROI
41

@nicolas_frankel
• https://blog.frankel.ch/
• @nicolas_frankel
• https://git.io/vznQK
Thanks a lot!

Mutation Testing Checks Quality of Tests

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