Software fault identification via dynamic analysis and machine learning

I propose a technique that identifies program properties that may indicate errors. The technique generates machine learning models of run-time program properties known to expose faults, and applies these models to program properties of user-written code to classify and rank properties that may lead the user to errors. I evaluate an implementation of the technique, the Fault Invariant Classifier, that demonstrates the efficacy of the error finding technique. The implementation uses dynamic invariant detection to generate program properties. It uses support vector machine and decision tree learning tools to classify those properties. Given a set of properties produced by the program analysis, some of which are indicative of errors, the technique selects a subset of properties that are most likely to reveal an error. The experimental evaluation over 941,000 lines of code, showed that a user must examine only the 2.2 highest-ranked properties for C programs and 1.7 for Java programs to find a fault-revealing property. The technique increases the relevance (the concentration of properties that reveal errors) by a factor of 50 on average for C programs, and 4.8 for Java programs.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2003

Author dc:creator

• Brun, Yuriy, 1981-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Michael D. Ernst.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17939

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/17939