Mutation testing

Time to read up on mutation testing. Jasper Sprengers’ article, “Sensible mutation testing: don’t go on a killing spree,” gives a small overview of mutation testing and then explains how killing all mutants is not always necessary. The article uses an example to show how a simple class requires extensive testing to kill all mutants. The example shows how a small class of around 10 lines and a single method requires 18 test assertions to kill all mutants. This shows that it is important to consider letting some mutants live. It is not always efficient to use the extra time expanding the tests. My takeaway from this article is that mutation testing should be used to find situations where your tests are not thorough enough but not all mutants are worth the time killing. Use mutation testing with discretion.

Article referenced:
https://blog.codecentric.de/en/2016/02/sensible-mutation-testing-dont-go-killing-spree-2/