Optimizing Software Defect Prediction Models: Integrating Hybrid Grey Wolf and Particle Swarm Optimization for Enhanced Feature Selection with Popular Gradient Boosting Algorithm

Abstract

Software defects, also referred to as software bugs, are anomalies or flaws in computer program that cause software to behave unexpectedly or produce incorrect results. These defects can manifest in various forms, including coding errors, design flaws, and logic mistakes, this defect have the potential to emerge at any stage of the software development lifecycle. Traditional prediction models usually have lower prediction performance. To address this issue, this paper proposes a novel prediction model using Hybrid Grey Wolf Optimizer and Particle Swarm Optimization (HGWOPSO). This research aims to determine whether the Hybrid Grey Wolf and Particle Swarm Optimization model could potentially improve the effectiveness of software defect prediction compared to base PSO and GWO algorithms without hybridization. Furthermore, this study aims to determine the effectiveness of different Gradient Boosting Algorithm classification algorithms when combined with HGWOPSO feature selection in predicting software defects. The study utilizes 13 NASA MDP dataset. These dataset are divided into testing and training data using 10-fold cross-validation. After data is divided, SMOTE technique is employed in training data. This technique generates synthetic samples to balance the dataset, ensuring better performance of the predictive model. Subsequently feature selection is conducted using HGWOPSO Algorithm. Each subset of the NASA MDP dataset will be processed by three boosting classification algorithms namely XGBoost, LightGBM, and CatBoost. Performance evaluation is based on the Area under the ROC Curve (AUC) value. Average AUC values yielded by HGWOPSO XGBoost, HGWOPSO LightGBM, and HGWOPSO CatBoost are 0.891, 0.881, and 0.894, respectively. Results of this study indicated that utilizing the HGWOPSO algorithm improved AUC performance compared to the base GWO and PSO algorithms. Specifically, HGWOPSO CatBoost achieved the highest AUC of 0.894. This represents a 6.5% increase in AUC with a significance value of 0.00552 compared to PSO CatBoost, and a 6.3% AUC increase with a significance value of 0.00148 compared to GWO CatBoost. This study demonstrated that HGWOPSO significantly improves the performance of software defect prediction. The implication of this research is to enhance software defect prediction models by incorporating hybrid optimization techniques and combining them with gradient boosting algorithms, which can potentially identify and address defects more accurately