Improving software testing cost-effectiveness through dynamic partitioning

We present a dynamic partitioning strategy that

selects test cases using online feedback information. The presented

strategy differs from conventional approaches. Firstly,

the partitioning is carried out online rather than off-line.

Secondly, the partitioning is not based on program code

or specifications; instead, it is simply based on the fail or

pass information of previously executed test cases and, hence,

can be implemented in the absence of the source code or

specification of the program under test. The cost-effectiveness

of the proposed strategy has been empirically investigated with

three programs, namely SPACE, SED, and GREP. The results

show that the proposed strategy achieves a significant saving

in terms of total number of test cases executed to detect all

faults.