Software Fault Localization: A Survey

Parmar, P; Patel, Miral

doi:10.5120/ijca2016912206

Cited by 18 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is not the purpose of the present paper to provide a comprehensive overview of this literature, as the goal is to identify method not related to software. For an interested reader, we refer to the excellent surveys of Wong et al [2] and Parmar and Patel [3]. Nevertheless, we include several works related to this area (Table 1), which we think are important representatives of the field.…”

Section: Softwarementioning

confidence: 99%

“…An interesting property of such network fault localization methods is that an almost direct analogy can be drawn to software fault localization: a network node Computer networks Engineering corresponds to a software component, a probe can be seen as a test case, and the responses from the network can be identified as the dynamic behavior of the system by executing the test cases. Thus, the traditional spectrum-based fault localization methods in software [2,3,7] may benefit from advances in probebased networking fault localization.…”

Section: Networkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our goal is specific, though. The background area is software engineering, and our research agenda deals with enhancing existing techniques and providing new approaches in the field of software fault localization [2] [3]. To this end, the primary goal of this survey is to provide a systematic analysis of fault localization techniques from non-software domains and discuss their possible adaptation to and implementation in software fault localization.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Software fault localization is a relatively young area compared to, for instance, aerospace or electronics. Yet, there is already a large literature covering many different subtopics [2] [3]. A lot of research has been performed to design effective fault localization algorithms and propose their use in different phases of the software process, most notably debugging.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Interdisciplinary Survey of Fault Localization Techniques to Aid Software Engineering

Beszedes

2019

APH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fault localization (narrowing down the cause of a failure to a small number of suspicious components of the system) is an important concern in many different engineering fields and there have been a large number of algorithmic solutions proposed to aid this activity. In this work, we performed a systematic analysis of related literature, not limiting the search to any specific engineering field, with the aim to find solutions in nonsoftware areas that could be successfully adapted to software fault localization. We found out that few areas have significant literature, in this topic, that are good candidates for adaptation (computer networks, for instance), and that although some classes of methods are less suitable, there are useful ideas in almost all fields that could potentially be reused for software fault localization.

show abstract

Section: Softwarementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Networkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Interdisciplinary Survey of Fault Localization Techniques to Aid Software Engineering

Beszedes

2019

APH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As for related work, Parmar et al [34] surveyed few automated fault localization techniques extensively where most of the techniques reviewed were statisticalbased, which are focused on localizing single faults. Similarly, another study [35] surveyed some of the most important techniques and approaches in the domain of software fault localization, to give readers an overview of progress made in the field of research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectrum-based Fault Localization Techniques Application on Multiple-Fault Programs: A Review

Zakari¹,

Abdullahi²,

Shagari³

et al. 2020

GJCST

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Software fault localization is one of the most tedious and costly activities in program debugging in the endeavor to identify faults locations in a software program. In this paper, the studies that used spectrum-based fault localization (SBFL) techniques that makes use of different multiple fault localization debugging methods such as one-bug-at-a-time (OBA) debugging, parallel debugging, and simultaneous debugging in localizing multiple faults are classified and critically analyzed in order to extensively discuss the current research trends, issues, and challenges in this field of study. The outcome strongly shows that there is a high utilization of OBA debugging method, poor fault isolation accuracy, and dominant use of artificial faults that limit the existing techniques applicability in the software industry.

show abstract

Using contextual knowledge in interactive fault localization

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tool support for automated fault localization in program debugging is limited because state-of-the-art algorithms often fail to provide efficient help to the user. They usually offer a ranked list of suspicious code elements, but the fault is not guaranteed to be found among the highest ranks. In Spectrum-Based Fault Localization (SBFL) – which uses code coverage information of test cases and their execution outcomes to calculate the ranks –, the developer has to investigate several locations before finding the faulty code element. Yet, all the knowledge she a priori has or acquires during this process is not reused by the SBFL tool. There are existing approaches in which the developer interacts with the SBFL algorithm by giving feedback on the elements of the prioritized list. We propose a new approach called iFL which extends interactive approaches by exploiting contextual knowledge of the user about the next item in the ranked list (e. g., a statement), with which larger code entities (e. g., a whole function) can be repositioned in their suspiciousness. We implemented a closely related algorithm proposed by Gong et al., called Talk. First, we evaluated iFL using simulated users, and compared the results to SBFL and Talk. Next, we introduced two types of imperfections in the simulation: user’s knowledge and confidence levels. On SIR and Defects4J, results showed notable improvements in fault localization efficiency, even with strong user imperfections. We then empirically evaluated the effectiveness of the approach with real users in two sets of experiments: a quantitative evaluation of the successfulness of using iFL, and a qualitative evaluation of practical uses of the approach with experienced developers in think-aloud sessions.

show abstract

Software Fault Localization: A Survey

Cited by 18 publications

References 14 publications

Interdisciplinary Survey of Fault Localization Techniques to Aid Software Engineering

Interdisciplinary Survey of Fault Localization Techniques to Aid Software Engineering

Spectrum-based Fault Localization Techniques Application on Multiple-Fault Programs: A Review

Using contextual knowledge in interactive fault localization

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About