Mutation operators for concurrent programs in MPI

Abstract

Concurrent Programming became an essential paradigm to reduce the computational time in many application domains. Mutation testing is an important criterion which uses mistakes made by software developers to derive test requirements. To apply this criterion in context of concurrent programs it is necessary to consider the implicit features of these programs, such as: communication, synchronization and non-determinism. Due to the non-determinism, special attention must be given during the mutant behavior analysis. This paper presents a set of mutation operators for concurrent programs in MPI (Message Passing Interface). This mutation operators set was defined based on typical errors of concurrent programs, extracted from literature. An example is presented to illustrate the application of the mutation operators to reveal faults in MPI programs.