Tests are important when it comes to implementing source code. Developers need ways to ensure the security of their source code as it becomes more complex. Increased complexity means that tests may become less capable of catching bugs. Mutation testing allows developers to test the weaknesses in their test suite, which shows what edge cases need to be handled and what constraints must be added to prevent farther bugs.
Mutation testing is a process developers use by creating bugs within their source code and running tests that should fail (failing tests mean a bug was found). When tests run, if the bug has survived, the tests meant to catch it were not thorough enough to handle certain edge cases. Mutation testing is classified as a white-box testing method which is best described as: a system that examines the internal functionality of an application. This is widely used in languages like Java and XML(a tool that stores and transports data). It's purpose is to find code that may not be nested properly, discover new errors, and to understand how errors spread within the application. The goal is to prevent these errors from happening again in the future.
Mutation testing tools are used mostly for continuous integration and continuous delivery. CI/CD is a modern practice of automated building testing and releasing applications. This operation entails committing code to a shared repository frequently. Typically CI/CD without Mutation Testing requires a waiting period. Usually wait times without Mutation Testing with CI/CD jobs are due to a weak test suite. Mutation Testing can make that process much more efficient due to a decreased wait time for CI/CD jobs to finish.
