Mutation Testing

Question

Can mutation testing be successfully used to improve TDD from a defect reduction perspective?

Answer 1

IMHO mutation testing theoretically can reduce defects not only in a TDD context, but in other contexts as well... The only problem is that is not used very often in practice. See also http://stackoverflow.com/questions/242650/is-mutation-testing-useful-in-practice/243046#243046

Answer 2

I use it, and consider it a success.

If you want to use mutation testing for Java, I highly recommend to use the new Javalanche tool by David Schuler rather than Jester and friends. Javalanche manipulates bytecode rather than sourcecode, and is thus orders of magnitudes faster.

Answer 3

It could, but with a bit of effort. Please check this,

http://abeletsky.blogspot.com/2010/07/using-of-mutation-testing-in-real.html