This paper deals with an approach based on the similarity of mutants. This similarity is used to reduce the number of mutants to be executed. In order to calculate such a similarity among mutants their structure is used. Each mutant is converted into a hierarchical graph, which represents the program's flow, variables and conditions. On the basis of this graph form a special graph kernel is defined to calculate similarity among programs. It is then used to predict whether a given test would detect a mutant or not. The prediction is carried out with the help of a classification algorithm. This approach should help to lower the number of mutants which have to be executed. An experimental validation of this approach is also presented in this paper. An example of a program used in experiments is described and the results obtained, especially classification errors, are presented.

Mutation testing is a testing technique supporting assessment of tests quality or selection of adequate tests. The technique, to perform effectively, requires a set of so called mutation operators to be defined. However, these operators may have different impact on the process, costs and results of mutation testing. Thus, a choice of operators that are most likely to ensure accurate results at acceptable costs is essential to make mutation testing practical. The paper presents results of an experiment evaluating effectiveness of operators defined for design models. The results of the experiment would help to make a decision regarding the choice of the most useful operators.

A well-formed design model, reflecting accurately all needs of stakeholders, contributes to a development and manufacturing of a high quality system. It is therefore of primary importance to evaluate a model to determine the degree to which the model is an accurate representation of these needs. A mutation testing based approach to evaluation and measuring of a design model with regard to its accuracy is presented in this paper. The approach focused mainly on detecting weaknesses of a model that could cause the future system to process incorrect data or crash when some unexpected situation occurs.

Efficient methods of automatic generation of test scenarios to validate a system against functional requirements have already been developed. However, there are no such satisfactory methods as far as temporal requirements are concerned. In this paper a method of automatic generation of test scenarios for verification of time constraints for reactive embedded systems is presented.

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