Automatic Test Case Generation For Path Testing Using Genetic Algorithms

The scale of computer software has been ballooned greatly and its complexity has alsoincreased sharply which bring about the more and more serious effect. The people highly takesoftware the quality and the reliability. In modern software engineering every stage ofsoftware development should practice very strict quality evaluation and test. Software testbecomes the key puncture of software quality assurance.This paper focuses on automatic test data generation for path testing using geneticalgorithms. That is a program P and a target path W, D is the set of all possible inputs, thegoal is to find input values (?)D, that will traverse the target path W. It is also an importantmethod to test the structure of programs. Studies of automatic test data generation can reducethe high cost of manual software testing and at the same time increase its reliability. Sostudies of automatic test data generation is a problem of practical meaning for the realizationof automatic software testing.Firstly, the paper has introduced the basic theory of software test and automatic test casegeneration technology for path test and for function test. The paper has explained withemphasis measures the automatic test case generation for test path technology and somerealization methods. Secondly, the paper also has introduced the standard genetic algorithmsbasic principle, the realization step, advantage and disadvantage. For the standard geneticalgorithms has the disadvantage such as it produce precociously individual, the individualhave few multiplicity, the author proposed the improved Double Population Adaptive adaptedGenetic Algorithms (DPAGA). DPAGA introduced the new population to classify the method,and each population's different characteristic proposed the adaptive evolution strategy. Inorder to reduce the evolution's time and the maintenance populations' multiplicity, the authorproposed the corresponding population's gene repair strategy and population's migrationstrategy. Thirdly, this paper also separately introduced two measures in order to improve theautomatic test case generation for path test system. The improvement is multi-spots junctionintersection method, changing the individuals' length and increasing test case the method.Finally, the author takes the example which uses automatic test case generation for pathtest system generated test case. The experimental result indicated that, this tool is effective,can generate the test case for path test. It still has some problems, therefore author has pointedthe direction of the research of next step in concluding remarks.