Analysis and refinement of software test data adequacy properties

Abstract
Test data adequacy criteria are standards that can be applied to decide if enough testing has been performed. Previous research in software testing has suggested 11 fundamental properties which reasonable criteria should satisfy if the criteria make use of the structure of the program being tested. It is shown that there are several dependencies among the 11 properties making them questionable as a set of fundamental properties, and that the statements of the properties can be generalized so that they can be appropriately analyzed with respect to criteria that do not necessarily make use of the program's structure. An analysis that shows the relationships among the properties with respect to different classes of criteria which utilize the program structure and the specification in different ways is discussed. It is shown how the properties differ under the two models in order to maintain consistency that the dependencies are largely a result of five very weak existential properties, and that by modifying three of the properties, these weaknesses can be eliminated. The result is a reduced set of seven properties, each of which is strong from a mathematical perspective.

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