Multi-agent-based integrated framework for intra-class testing of object-oriented software

The primary features of the object-oriented paradigm lead to develop a complex and compositional testing framework for object-oriented software. Agent-oriented approach has become a trend in software engineering. Agent technologies facilitate the software testing by virtue of their high-level independency with parallel activation and automation. This paper proposed an integrated framework that has been built on two existing testing techniques namely Mutation Testing and Capability Testing. In both the cases, testing is carried out at Autonomous Unit Level (AUL) and Inter-Procedural Level (IPL). Mutation-Based Testing-Agent and Capability Assessment Testing-Agent have been developed for performing AUL testing and Method Interaction Testing-Agent has been developed for performing IPL testing. This agent-based framework is an attempt for developing an automated software testing environment and among the several phases of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), this framework is recommended for unit testing in code complete phase and alpha phase. This methodology gives the basic approach to agent-based frameworks for testing and to optimization of agent-based testing schedules, subject to timing constraints. This adds “interesting new opportunities in the object-oriented software testing phase” to the existing literature that is concerned with software testing frameworks.