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Method and apparatus for prioritizing software tests

a software test and prioritization technology, applied in the field of methods and apparatus for prioritizing software tests, can solve the problems of high cost of software release fixation, inability to complete testing exhaustively, and time-consuming, and achieve the effect of increasing the priority of testing

Inactive Publication Date: 2006-06-15
MICROSOFT TECH LICENSING LLC
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a method, system, and computer system for prioritizing software tests. The invention prioritizes tests based on their impact on the software and their coverage of the code. This helps to identify and fix defects in the software faster, as most of the new or revised code can be tested early on. The invention generates a prioritized list of tests based on their coverage indicators and impacted areas, which can be useful for developers in identifying and addressing defects in the software.

Problems solved by technology

Defect detection and correction is more costly to fix after the software has been released.
Full testing is intended to be exhaustive and may be very time consuming.
For example, full testing may take days or weeks to run.
Data flow analysis is difficult in a programming language such as C++ or C which contains pointers, casts, and aliasing.
Data flow analysis is not only expensive, it also does not scale to large commercial programs.
Although some studies show in certain cases that there is no reduction in fault detection, other studies show that fault detection can be severely compromised due to inaccuracies in test elimination.
Another major limitation of test elimination techniques is their inability to be effective when a procedure common to all tests is modified.

Method used

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  • Method and apparatus for prioritizing software tests

Examples

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Embodiment Construction

[0029] General Purpose Computer

[0030]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional general-purpose digital computing environment that can be used to implement various aspects of the invention. Computer 100 includes a processing unit 110, a system memory 120 and a system bus 130 that couples various system components including the system memory to the processing unit 110. System bus 130 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. System memory 120 includes a read only memory (ROM) 140 and a random access memory (RAM) 150.

[0031] A basic input / output system (BIOS) 160 containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the computer 100, such as during start-up, is stored in ROM 140. Computer 100 also includes a hard disk drive 170 for reading from and writing to a hard disk (not shown), a magnetic disk drive 180 for readin...

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Abstract

A computer system and method is provided for prioritizing software tests. Software tests are prioritized based on coverage indicators for the software tests and an indication of impacted areas of the software. Each of the coverage indicators indicates which portions of the software are executed for a respective one of the software tests. The portions of the software include at least one of a plurality of blocks. The indication of impacted areas of the software indicates ones of the plurality of blocks that are modified or new with respect to a previous version of the software. A prioritized list of software tests is output. The prioritized list includes at least one test sequence.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application is a continuation of prior U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 133,427, filed Apr. 29, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to methods and computer systems for prioritizing a plurality of software tests. More specifically, the invention relates to prioritizing software tests for a later version of previously tested software. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Software testing ensures that software has been implemented correctly and performs as intended. Testing new versions of previously tested software helps to ensure that any newly added or revised code has not adversely affected any previously working features. [0004] An important goal of software testing is to expose software defects prior to releasing the software. Defect detection and correction is more costly to fix after the software has been released. Therefore, it is desirable to detect and correct...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): G06F9/44G06F11/36
CPCG06F11/3676
Inventor SRIVASTAVA, AMITABHTHIAGARAJAN, JAYARAMAN
Owner MICROSOFT TECH LICENSING LLC
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