Essential Spectrum-based Fault Localization

Program debugging has always been a difficult and time-consuming task in the context of software development, where spectrum-based fault localization (SBFL) is one of the most widely studied families of techniques. While it’s not particularly difficult to learn about the process and empirical performance of a particular SBFL technique from the available literature, researchers and practitioners aren’t always familiar with the underlying theories.

This book provides the first comprehensive guide to fundamental theories in SBFL, while also addressing some emerging challenges in this area. The theoretical framework introduced here reveals the intrinsic relations between various risk evaluation formulas, making it possible to construct a formula performance hierarchy. Further extensions of the framework provide a sufficient and necessary condition for a general maximal formula, as well as performance comparisons for hybrid SBFL methods. With regard to emerging challenges in SBFL, the book mainly covers the frequently encountered oracle problem in SBFL and introduces a metamorphic slice-based solution. In addition, it discusses the challenge of multiple-fault localization and presents cutting-edge approaches to overcoming it.

SBFL is a widely studied research area with a massive amount of publications. Thus, it is essential that the software engineering community, especially those involved in program debugging, software maintenance and software quality assurance (including both newcomers and researchers who want to gain deeper insights) understand the most fundamental theories - which could also be very helpful to ensuring the healthy development of the field.

Xiaoyuan Xie is a Professor in School of Computer Science, Wuhan University. Her research interests include software testing, software fault localization, program analysis, and intelligent software engineering. She proposed a set-based theoretical framework for spectrum-based fault localization. This is the first theoretical framework in relevant areas. It reveals the intrinsic relations among different evaluation formulas, with which people can build formula performance hierarchy. This framework has further been extended to serve comparison among hybrid SBFL methods. Related works have been published in top-tier software engineering journals and conferences: TOSEM and ICSE, and have received over 250 citations. She also proposed the first method that properly alleviates the oracle problem in spectrum-based fault localization. Apart from spectrum-based fault localization, she has successfully applied Metamorphic Testing in different domains, such as machine learning, bioinformatics and etc. She has published over 40 papers in top-tier software engineering venues, including TOSEM, TSE, ICSE, FSE, JSS, IST, ICSME, and etc. She is now an Associate-Editor of Frontiers of Computer Science, a Guest Editor of Journal of Systems and Software, a PC Chair of International Workshop on Metamorphic Testing, as well as a reviewer/PC Member of top-tier software engineering journals and conferences.

Baowen Xu is a Professor in Department of Computer Science and Technology, Nanjing University. Prof. Xu has been engaged in the theory, methodology, and technology research of test-driven software defect diagnosis and analysis, since late 1980s. He has obtained a number of internationally advanced research results, which are highly praised by international peers and exert great impact in this research field. For more than 30 years, he has undertaken over 30 research projects from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, Jiangsu Province, and some enterprises.Prof. Baowen Xu was supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (including Major Research Plan, State Key Program, General Program, International Joint Research Program), the National Basic Research Program of China, the Key Program and General Program of National High Technology Research and Development Program of China, the Science and Technology Development Program, High Technological Program, and Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province. He has published more than 300 papers with over 3000 citations, including top venues such as TOSEM, TSE, ICSE, FSE, IJCAI, etc. He has also served as the general chair, program committee chair/member in plenty of renowned academic conferences for more than 100 times.