Enhanced functional testing through the filtration of non-subtle mutations

A method for functionally simulating and verifying the correctness of a computer program, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) generating a mutated computer program, wherein the mutated computer program includes a syntactic mutation;
• b) pre-processing the mutated computer program to identify the syntactic mutation within the mutated computer program as either a subtle or non-subtle syntactic mutation;
• c) if the mutated computer program has a non-subtle syntactic mutation, terminating the functional simulation of the mutated computer program, then returning to step (a) to generate another mutated computer program;
• d) simulating the mutated computer program having the subtle syntactic mutation to attempt to detect the subtle syntactic mutation within the mutated computer program within a predetermined simulation period;
• e) if the subtle syntactic mutation is detected within a predetermined simulation period, terminating the functional simulation of the mutated computer program and returning to step (a) to generate another mutated computer program;
• and
• f) if the subtle syntactic mutation is not detected within a predetermined simulation period, indicating that the subtle syntactic mutation was not detected.

A computer readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to perform a method comprising the steps of:

• a) generating a mutated computer program, wherein the mutated computer program includes a syntactic mutation;
• b) pre-processing the mutated computer program to identify the syntactic mutation within the mutated computer program as either a subtle or non-subtle syntactic mutation;
• c) if the mutated computer program has a non-subtle syntactic mutation, terminating the functional simulation of the mutated computer program, then returning to step (a) to generate another mutated computer program;
• d) simulating the mutated computer program having the subtle syntactic mutation to attempt to detect the subtle syntactic mutation within the mutated computer program within a predetermined simulation period;
• e) if the subtle syntactic mutation is detected within a predetermined simulation period, terminating the functional simulation of the mutated computer program and returning to step (a) to generate another mutated computer program;
• and
• f) if the subtle syntactic mutation is not detected within a predetermined simulation period, indicating that the subtle syntactic mutation was not detected.