Exploring feature interactions without specifications: A controlled experiment

Larissa Rocha Soares, Jens Meinicke, Sarah Nadi, Christian Kästner, Eduardo Santana de Almeida

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

In highly configurable systems, features may interact unexpectedly and produce faulty behavior. Those faults are not easily identified from the analysis of each feature separately, especially when feature specifications are missing. We propose VarXplorer, a dynamic and iterative approach to detect suspicious interactions. It provides information on how features impact the control and data flow of the program. VarXplorer supports developers with a graph that visualizes this information, mainly showing suppress and require relations between features. To evaluate whether VarXplorer helps improve the performance of identifying suspicious interactions, we perform a controlled study with 24 subjects. We find that with our proposed feature-interaction graphs, participants are able to identify suspicious interactions more than 3 times faster compared to the state-of-the-art tool.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationGPCE 2018 - Proceedings of the 17th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Generative Programming
Subtitle of host publicationConcepts and Experiences, co-located with SPLASH 2018
EditorsEric Van Wyk, Tiark Rompf
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages40-52
Number of pages13
ISBN (Electronic)9781450360456
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 5 2018
Event17th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Generative Programming: Concepts and Experiences, GPCE 2018, co-located with SPLASH 2018 - Boston, United States
Duration: Nov 5 2018Nov 6 2018

Publication series

NameGPCE 2018 - Proceedings of the 17th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Generative Programming: Concepts and Experiences, co-located with SPLASH 2018

Conference

Conference17th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Generative Programming: Concepts and Experiences, GPCE 2018, co-located with SPLASH 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBoston
Period11/5/1811/6/18

Keywords

  • Controlled Experiment
  • Feature Interaction
  • Highly Configurable Systems

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Science Applications
  • Computational Theory and Mathematics
  • Information Systems
  • Software

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