Section: New Results

Change Impact Analysis

In [21], we have proposed a novel evaluation technique for change impact analysis (CIA). CIA is a prediction problem that, given a source code element in a program, determines the other source code elements impacted if one changes this original source code element. Given the large size of the element space in complex programs, this prediction requires a trade-off between different dimensions: precision, completeness, time. The novelty of the result lies in the use of mutation analysis to study simultaneously these three dimensions. This result is backed by an empirical evaluation performed on 10 open-source Java programs and 5 mutation operators, which enabled to generate 17,000 mutants and study how the error they introduce propagates. This result has been achieved in the context of the PhD thesis, defended in November 2016, of Vicenzo Musco [15].