Mutation Is Back

Sometimes good ideas never make it, and sometimes they do. Mutation analysis, a notion that goes back to the 1980's (and generated a big controversy in the test community then), appears headed for renewed interest.

Check out the 4th International Workshop on Mutation Analysis, part of the ICST 2009 Conference set for April 2009 in Boulder, Colorado, USA.

For those who don't know what the fuss is about, mutation analysis methods test the quality of a test suite by applying it to versions of the software product under test that have had "mutations" seeded inside; if the suite detects the errors, great; if it doesn't, then you know something is deficient. By the way, "product" here doesn't have to be live code (although it could be) and may include specifications, designs, or other types of objects It's an idea that may be worth looking into.