Class/aspect level mutation operators in aspect-oriented software systems

Software testing is a significant phase in the development of any software. So, it becomes necessary that appropriate software testing techniques are used. Mutation testing is one of the techniques, which are present for testing. The testing is achieved here by offering faults into a program. These faults help to examine the test suite's efficiency. These faults are known as mutant. The focus of this paper is on mutants for aspect-oriented software. Aspect-oriented approach aims to provide modularity, higher cohesion and separation of concerns. The programs are modularized by separating the crosscutting concerns from the base class by introducing a new module known as aspect. Mutation operators can be introduced at both the base class as well as the aspect level. In this paper, we have proposed 21 mutation operators for aspect-oriented systems at the base class and the aspect level. A mutation score is calculated by applying these operators on two applications.