Evaluating the practical use of fault localization techniques

• Grant number: 14/23030-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: March 11, 2015
• End date: March 10, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Computer Science - Computer Systems
• Principal Investigator: Fabio Kon
• Grantee: Higor Amario de Souza
• Supervisor: Alessandro Orso
• Host Institution: Instituto de Matemática e Estatística (IME). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Georgia Institute of Technology, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/24992-2 - Fault Localization in Automated Debugging, BP.DR

Abstract

Debugging is a time-consuming activity. Fault localization techniques have been proposed in order to reduce development costs. Most of the techniques generate a list of code excerpts more likely to be faulty. Thus, developers can inspect such list to search for faults. However, experiments with developers using such techniques are needed to obtain a better understanding about their practical use. The goal of this proposal is to investigate how developers use fault localization techniques and what is the localization effort that they are usually willing to spend searching for bugs using these techniques. We also intend to identify factors that influence the automated fault localization, such as the test suite quality of programs and multiple faults. The research visit will be carried out at the Georgia Institute of Technology under the supervision of the Professor Alessandro Orso. During the visit, we will develop a fault localization technique to provide contextual information. Two experiments will be carried out: an experiment to evaluate the performance of the technique with programs and another experiment with developers to understand how the technique is used in practice. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

RIBEIRO, HENRIQUE L.; DE ARAUJO, ROBERTO P. A.; CHAIM, MARCOS L.; DE SOUZA, HIGOR A.; KON, FABIO; IEEE. Jaguar: a spectrum-based fault localization tool for real-world software. 2018 IEEE 11TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SOFTWARE TESTING, VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION (ICST), v. N/A, p. 6-pg., 2018-01-01. (13/24992-2, 14/23030-5)

DE SOUZA, HIGOR A.; MUTTI, DANILO; CHAIM, MARCOS L.; KON, FABIO. Contextualizing spectrum-based fault localization. INFORMATION AND SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY, v. 94, p. 245-261, FEB 2018. (13/24992-2, 14/23030-5)

RIBEIRO, HENRIQUE L.; DE ARAUJO, ROBERTO P. A.; CHAIM, MARCOS L.; DE SOUZA, HIGOR A.; KON, FABIO; IEEE. Evaluating data-flow coverage in spectrum-based fault localization. 2019 13TH ACM/IEEE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON EMPIRICAL SOFTWARE ENGINEERING AND MEASUREMENT (ESEM 2019), v. N/A, p. 11-pg., 2019-01-01. (14/50937-1, 14/23030-5, 13/24992-2)