Empirical Validation of Variable based Test Case Prioritization/Selection Technique

Regression test case prioritization optimizes the ordering of test cases to be executed to meet some criteria like maximum code coverage or high rate of fault detection. In prior work we prioritized test cases according to a hybrid technique using variable based method that combined both selection and prioritization. We inferred in our approach that variables are vital source of changes in the program and test cases should be prioritized according to the variables of any changed statement and variables computed from the variables of changed statements. In support of our prioritization approach we extend our work to validate the effectiveness of prioritized test cases with respect to data flow technique. This paper reports an experimental study investigating the effectiveness of our prioritization approach given in [2] by considering programs. The results obtained are encouraging and support our work to validate the prioritization technique with respect to DU/DC paths of data flow testing technique.