A Complete Analysis of Test Choice and Efficient Regression Testing

Bridging the Gap: A Comparative Study between Research and Industry in Regression Testing

Abstract

Regression testing is acostly but crucial problem in software development. Both the research communityand the industry have paid much attention to this problem. However, are theissues they concerned the same? The paper try to do the survey of currentresearch on regression testing and current practice in industry and also try tofind out whether there are gaps between them. The observations show thatalthough some issues are concerned both by the research community and theindustry gay, there do exist gaps. Regression testing is animportant and expensive activity that is undertaken every time a program ismodified to ensure that the modifications do not introduce new bugs intopreviously validated code. An important research problem, in this context, isthe selection of a relevant subset of test cases from the initial test suitethat would minimize both the regression testing time and effort withoutsacrificing the thoroughness of regression testing. Researchers have proposed anumber of regression test selection techniques for different programmingparadigms such as procedural, object-oriented, component-based, database,aspect, and web applications. In this paper, we review the important regressiontest selection techniques proposed for various categories of programs andidentify the emerging trends.