A Manifesto for Higher Order Mutation Testing

Abstract

We argue that higher order mutants are potentially better able to simulate real faults and to reveal insights into bugs than the restricted class of first order mutants. The Mutation Testing community has previously shied away from Higher Order Mutation Testing believing it to be too expensive and therefore impractical. However, this paper argues that Search Based Software Engineering can provide a solution to this apparent problem, citing results from recent work on search based optimization techniques for constructing higher order mutants. We also present a research agenda for the development of Higher Order Mutation Testing.