Fault detection and localization in dynamic software applications

A computer program product for analyzing an application comprising a plurality of code fragments, the computer program product comprising:

• a non-transitory storage medium readable by a computer system, the non-transitory storage medium readable medium storing software programming instructions capable of performing with a processor programming code to carry out:
• executing a portion of the code fragments that comprise the application;
• recording a correlation between the portion of the code fragments that have been executed and execution characteristics of performance that these portion of the code fragments exhibited on execution over their lifetime of execution;
• determining with an oracle implemented in software, independent of using expected outputs from the portion of the code fragments, a pass or fail evaluation of whether at least one part of the execution characteristics of performance of the portion of the code fragments that have been executed exhibits a fault, the execution characteristics of performance is at least one of system speed, stability, quality, and memory footprint of the portion of the code fragments;
• and
• prioritizing the portion of the code fragments in the application based on:
• i. the pass or fail evaluation produced by the oracle;
• ii. a number of times the portion of the code fragments have been executed;
• and
• iii. the correlation between the portion of the code fragments that have been executed and the execution characteristics of performance exhibited by the portion of the code fragments.

A system for analyzing an application comprising a plurality of code fragments, the system comprising:

• a computer processor, a monitor, and an input device;
• a suitable storage medium for storing data and accessible by the computer processor;
• an execution unit for executing a portion of the code fragments that comprise the application;
• a recording unit for recording a correlation between the portion of the code fragments that have been executed and execution characteristics of performance that these portion of the code fragments exhibited on execution;
• and
• an oracle implemented in software for determining, independent of using expected outputs from the portion of the code fragments, a pass or fail evaluation of whether at least one part of the execution characteristics of performance of the portion of the code fragments that have been executed exhibits a fault, the execution characteristics of performance is at least one of system speed, stability, quality, and memory footprint of the code fragments and prioritizing the portion of the code fragments in the application based on:
• i. the pass or fail evaluation produced by the oracle;
• ii. a number of times the portion of the code fragments have been executed;
• and
• iii. the correlation between the portion of the code fragments that have been executed and the execution characteristics of performance exhibited by the portion of the code fragments.