Fuzz Testing and Test Case Reduction

Abstract

When looking back on our lives, it is often hard to determine the point when our current path or profession was chosen. Some people say that they have always known what career they wanted to pursue, others made the decision right before the college application deadline, and there are those who are still uncertain whether they made the right choice even after getting a degree. As for me, the only thing I know for sure is that I have always been fascinated by movies about hackers, even by the not so good ones. I never truly believed that one day I was going to do something similar, but now, 20 years later, here I am. Hunting for issues, reporting security bugs, and writing my thesis. Over the years I slowly realized that nothing could be further from computer science than those movies. However, while sitting in front of my computer, I still often find myself imagine being the protagonist of such a story. And I start to believe that this is reality now. Getting here has been a long journey, but by no means a lonely one. Many people helped me along the way and I will always be grateful to them. Chronologically first, I would like to say thank you to my high school teachers, Zsuzsanna Bali and Imre Szőke, who persuaded me that girls could also become computer scientists. I am thankful to Tibor Gyimóthy who invited me to join the Department of Software Engineering many years ago and later became my Ph.D. supervisor. I am grateful to him and to Ákos Kiss for their continuous support, especially after I left the safe harbour by choosing a topic that has not had a long research history at our department. I am also thankful to Gábor Lóki and Zoltán Herczeg for putting my research into practice. Last but not least, I would like to thank my family that they provided a pleasant background to my studies throughout the years and also encouraged me to go on with my research.