Adapting code maintainability to bat-inspired test case prioritization

Abstract

Time and budget constraints in developing a software create an adverse effect in terms of the adequacy of maintenance and test processes. This case can be considered as a burden for persons who account for test processes. In order to alleviate this burden, test case prioritization is one of the solutions. A nature-inspired method namely BITCP, which was developed based on bat algorithm, produced promising results. However, this method does not involve test case elements with respect to the code maintainability. In this work, the correlation between some code maintainability indicators including WMC, LCOM, and Coupling and cyclomatic complexity is investigated. IMPBITCP appears after adapting the results of the investigation to BITCP. The method is then compared with well known alternatives such as greedy-search, particle swarm optimization, and BITCP. The experiment involving six open source project showed that IMPCBITCP outperformed the others with respect to the APFD. The findings of the work indicates that if the factors affecting code maintenance are considered while developing test case prioritization techniques, APFD results becomes high and stable.