LittleDarwin: a Feature-Rich and Extensible Mutation Testing Framework for Large and Complex Java Systems
This addresses the problem for software developers and researchers needing a practical, extensible mutation testing tool for industrial Java systems, though it is incremental in combining existing features into a single framework.
The authors tackled the lack of a mutation testing tool for large, complex Java systems by designing LittleDarwin, a feature-rich and extensible framework that includes capabilities like higher-order mutation and mutant sampling, and it is the only tool available with these features for industrial settings.
Mutation testing is a well-studied method for increasing the quality of a test suite. We designed LittleDarwin as a mutation testing framework able to cope with large and complex Java software systems, while still being easily extensible with new experimental components. LittleDarwin addresses two existing problems in the domain of mutation testing: having a tool able to work within an industrial setting, and yet, be open to extension for cutting edge techniques provided by academia. LittleDarwin already offers higher-order mutation, null type mutants, mutant sampling, manual mutation, and mutant subsumption analysis. There is no tool today available with all these features that is able to work with typical industrial software systems.