Generating Understandable Unit Tests through End-to-End Test Scenario Carving

A. Deljouyi; A.E. Zaidman

doi:10.1109/SCAM59687.2023.00021

Generating Understandable Unit Tests through End-to-End Test Scenario Carving

^*Corresponding author for this work

Software Engineering

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volume › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

Automatic unit test generators such as EvoSuite are able to automatically generate unit test suites with high coverage. This removes the burden of writing unit tests from developers, but the generated tests are often difficult to understand for them. In this paper, we introduce the MicroTestCarver approach that generates unit tests starting from manual or scripted end-toend (E2E) tests. Using carved information from these E2E tests, we generate unit tests that have meaningful test scenarios and contain actual test data. When we apply our MicroTestCarver approach, we observe that 85% of the generated tests are executable. Through a user study involving 20 participants, we get indications that tests generated with MicroTestCarver are relatively easy to understand.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 23rd IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM)
Editors	Leon Moonen, Christian Newman, Alessandra Gorla
Publisher	IEEE Computer Society - Conference Publishing Services
Pages	107-118
Number of pages	12
ISBN (Electronic)	9798350305067
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/SCAM59687.2023.00021
Publication status	Published - 2023
Event	23rd IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation - Bogotá, Colombia Duration: 2 Oct 2023 → 3 Oct 2023 Conference number: 23

Publication series

Name	Proceedings - 2023 IEEE 23rd International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation, SCAM 2023

Conference

Conference	23rd IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation
Abbreviated title	SCAM 2023
Country/Territory	Colombia
City	Bogotá
Period	2/10/23 → 3/10/23

Bibliographical note

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care
Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Keywords

Test Generation
Unit Testing
Understandability
Readability
Carving and Replaying

Access to Document

10.1109/SCAM59687.2023.00021

https://azaidman.github.io/publications/deljouyiSCAM2023.pdf

Cite this

Deljouyi, A., & Zaidman, A. E. (2023). Generating Understandable Unit Tests through End-to-End Test Scenario Carving. In L. Moonen, C. Newman, & A. Gorla (Eds.), Proceedings of the 23rd IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM) (pp. 107-118). (Proceedings - 2023 IEEE 23rd International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation, SCAM 2023). IEEE Computer Society - Conference Publishing Services. https://doi.org/10.1109/SCAM59687.2023.00021

Deljouyi, A. ; Zaidman, A.E. / Generating Understandable Unit Tests through End-to-End Test Scenario Carving. Proceedings of the 23rd IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM). editor / Leon Moonen ; Christian Newman ; Alessandra Gorla. IEEE Computer Society - Conference Publishing Services, 2023. pp. 107-118 (Proceedings - 2023 IEEE 23rd International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation, SCAM 2023).

@inproceedings{317e54a1e7764d288486b444ad9e9e0b,

title = "Generating Understandable Unit Tests through End-to-End Test Scenario Carving",

abstract = "Automatic unit test generators such as EvoSuite are able to automatically generate unit test suites with high coverage. This removes the burden of writing unit tests from developers, but the generated tests are often difficult to understand for them. In this paper, we introduce the MicroTestCarver approach that generates unit tests starting from manual or scripted end-toend (E2E) tests. Using carved information from these E2E tests, we generate unit tests that have meaningful test scenarios and contain actual test data. When we apply our MicroTestCarver approach, we observe that 85% of the generated tests are executable. Through a user study involving 20 participants, we get indications that tests generated with MicroTestCarver are relatively easy to understand. ",

keywords = "Test Generation, Unit Testing, Understandability, Readability, Carving and Replaying",

author = "A. Deljouyi and A.E. Zaidman",

note = "Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository {\textquoteleft}You share, we take care!{\textquoteright} – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public. ; 23rd IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation , SCAM 2023 ; Conference date: 02-10-2023 Through 03-10-2023",

year = "2023",

doi = "10.1109/SCAM59687.2023.00021",

language = "English",

series = "Proceedings - 2023 IEEE 23rd International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation, SCAM 2023",

publisher = "IEEE Computer Society - Conference Publishing Services",

pages = "107--118",

editor = "Leon Moonen and Christian Newman and Alessandra Gorla",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the 23rd IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM)",

}

Deljouyi, A & Zaidman, AE 2023, Generating Understandable Unit Tests through End-to-End Test Scenario Carving. in L Moonen, C Newman & A Gorla (eds), Proceedings of the 23rd IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM). Proceedings - 2023 IEEE 23rd International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation, SCAM 2023, IEEE Computer Society - Conference Publishing Services, pp. 107-118, 23rd IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation , Bogotá, Colombia, 2/10/23. https://doi.org/10.1109/SCAM59687.2023.00021

Generating Understandable Unit Tests through End-to-End Test Scenario Carving. / Deljouyi, A.; Zaidman, A.E.
Proceedings of the 23rd IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM). ed. / Leon Moonen; Christian Newman; Alessandra Gorla. IEEE Computer Society - Conference Publishing Services, 2023. p. 107-118 (Proceedings - 2023 IEEE 23rd International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation, SCAM 2023).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volume › Conference contribution › Scientific › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Generating Understandable Unit Tests through End-to-End Test Scenario Carving

AU - Deljouyi, A.

AU - Zaidman, A.E.

N1 - Conference code: 23

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Automatic unit test generators such as EvoSuite are able to automatically generate unit test suites with high coverage. This removes the burden of writing unit tests from developers, but the generated tests are often difficult to understand for them. In this paper, we introduce the MicroTestCarver approach that generates unit tests starting from manual or scripted end-toend (E2E) tests. Using carved information from these E2E tests, we generate unit tests that have meaningful test scenarios and contain actual test data. When we apply our MicroTestCarver approach, we observe that 85% of the generated tests are executable. Through a user study involving 20 participants, we get indications that tests generated with MicroTestCarver are relatively easy to understand.

AB - Automatic unit test generators such as EvoSuite are able to automatically generate unit test suites with high coverage. This removes the burden of writing unit tests from developers, but the generated tests are often difficult to understand for them. In this paper, we introduce the MicroTestCarver approach that generates unit tests starting from manual or scripted end-toend (E2E) tests. Using carved information from these E2E tests, we generate unit tests that have meaningful test scenarios and contain actual test data. When we apply our MicroTestCarver approach, we observe that 85% of the generated tests are executable. Through a user study involving 20 participants, we get indications that tests generated with MicroTestCarver are relatively easy to understand.

KW - Test Generation

KW - Unit Testing

KW - Understandability

KW - Readability

KW - Carving and Replaying

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85182744498&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1109/SCAM59687.2023.00021

DO - 10.1109/SCAM59687.2023.00021

M3 - Conference contribution

T3 - Proceedings - 2023 IEEE 23rd International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation, SCAM 2023

SP - 107

EP - 118

BT - Proceedings of the 23rd IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM)

A2 - Moonen, Leon

A2 - Newman, Christian

A2 - Gorla, Alessandra

PB - IEEE Computer Society - Conference Publishing Services

T2 - 23rd IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation

Y2 - 2 October 2023 through 3 October 2023

ER -

Deljouyi A , Zaidman AE. Generating Understandable Unit Tests through End-to-End Test Scenario Carving. In Moonen L, Newman C, Gorla A, editors, Proceedings of the 23rd IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM). IEEE Computer Society - Conference Publishing Services. 2023. p. 107-118. (Proceedings - 2023 IEEE 23rd International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation, SCAM 2023). doi: 10.1109/SCAM59687.2023.00021

Generating Understandable Unit Tests through End-to-End Test Scenario Carving

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Embargoed Document

Fingerprint

Cite this