NLP-assisted software testing: a systematic mapping of the literature
2020 (English)In: Information and Software Technology, ISSN 0950-5849, E-ISSN 1873-6025, Vol. 126, article id 106321Article, review/survey (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Context: To reduce manual effort of extracting test cases from natural-language requirements, many approaches based on Natural Language Processing (NLP) have been proposed in the literature. Given the large amount of approaches in this area, and since many practitioners are eager to utilize such techniques, it is important to synthesize and provide an overview of the state-of-the-art in this area. Objective: Our objective is to summarize the state-of-the-art in NLP-assisted software testing which could benefit practitioners to potentially utilize those NLP-based techniques. Moreover, this can benefit researchers in providing an overview of the research landscape. Method: To address the above need, we conducted a survey in the form of a systematic literature mapping (classification). After compiling an initial pool of 95 papers, we conducted a systematic voting, and our final pool included 67 technical papers. Results: This review paper provides an overview of the contribution types presented in the papers, types of NLP approaches used to assist software testing, types of required input requirements, and a review of tool support in this area. Some key results we have detected are: (1) only four of the 38 tools (11%) presented in the papers are available for download; (2) a larger ratio of the papers (30 of 67) provided a shallow exposure to the NLP aspects (almost no details). Conclusion: This paper would benefit both practitioners and researchers by serving as an “index” to the body of knowledge in this area. The results could help practitioners utilizing the existing NLP-based techniques; this in turn reduces the cost of test-case design and decreases the amount of human resources spent on test activities. After sharing this review with some of our industrial collaborators, initial insights show that this review can indeed be useful and beneficial to practitioners. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier B.V. , 2020. Vol. 126, article id 106321
Keywords [en]
Natural Language Processing (NLP), Software testing, Systematic literature mapping, Systematic literature review, Mapping, Natural language processing systems, Body of knowledge, Industrial collaborators, Large amounts, NAtural language processing, Natural language requirements, Review papers, State of the art, Systematic mapping
National Category
Software Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:bth-19524DOI: 10.1016/j.infsof.2020.106321ISI: 000573271800010OAI: oai:DiVA.org:bth-19524DiVA, id: diva2:1433131
Part of project
SERT- Software Engineering ReThought, Knowledge Foundation
Note
open access
2020-05-292020-05-292021-10-08Bibliographically approved