Metamorphic relations for enhancing system understanding and use
Modern information technology paradigms, such as online services and off-the-shelf products, often involve a wide variety of users with different or even conflicting objectives. Every software output may satisfy some users, but may also fail to satisfy others. Furthermore, users often do not know th...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55380/ |
| _version_ | 1848799154724143104 |
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| author | Zhou, Zhi Quan Sun, Liqun Chen, Tsong Yueh Towey, Dave |
| author_facet | Zhou, Zhi Quan Sun, Liqun Chen, Tsong Yueh Towey, Dave |
| author_sort | Zhou, Zhi Quan |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Modern information technology paradigms, such as online services and off-the-shelf products, often involve a wide variety of users with different or even conflicting objectives. Every software output may satisfy some users, but may also fail to satisfy others. Furthermore, users often do not know the internal working mechanisms of the systems. This situation is quite different from bespoke software, where developers and users usually know each other. This paper proposes an approach to help users to better understand the software that they use, and thereby more easily achieve their objectives—even when they do not fully understand how the system is implemented. Our approach borrows the concept of metamorphic relations from the field of metamorphic testing (MT), using it in an innovative way that extends beyond MT. We also propose a "symmetry" metamorphic relation pattern and a "change direction" metamorphic relation input pattern that can be used to derive multiple concrete metamorphic relations. Empirical studies reveal previously unknown failures in some of the most popular applications in the world, and show how our approach can help users to better understand and better use the systems. The empirical results provide strong evidence of the simplicity, applicability, and effectiveness of our methodology. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:31:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-55380 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:31:10Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-553802018-10-30T11:13:14Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55380/ Metamorphic relations for enhancing system understanding and use Zhou, Zhi Quan Sun, Liqun Chen, Tsong Yueh Towey, Dave Modern information technology paradigms, such as online services and off-the-shelf products, often involve a wide variety of users with different or even conflicting objectives. Every software output may satisfy some users, but may also fail to satisfy others. Furthermore, users often do not know the internal working mechanisms of the systems. This situation is quite different from bespoke software, where developers and users usually know each other. This paper proposes an approach to help users to better understand the software that they use, and thereby more easily achieve their objectives—even when they do not fully understand how the system is implemented. Our approach borrows the concept of metamorphic relations from the field of metamorphic testing (MT), using it in an innovative way that extends beyond MT. We also propose a "symmetry" metamorphic relation pattern and a "change direction" metamorphic relation input pattern that can be used to derive multiple concrete metamorphic relations. Empirical studies reveal previously unknown failures in some of the most popular applications in the world, and show how our approach can help users to better understand and better use the systems. The empirical results provide strong evidence of the simplicity, applicability, and effectiveness of our methodology. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 2018-10-16 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55380/1/ZhouSunChenTowey.pdf Zhou, Zhi Quan, Sun, Liqun, Chen, Tsong Yueh and Towey, Dave (2018) Metamorphic relations for enhancing system understanding and use. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering . ISSN 0098-5589 Software testing; Information technology; Electronic mail; Software systems Software maintenance https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8493260 doi:10.1109/TSE.2018.2876433 doi:10.1109/TSE.2018.2876433 |
| spellingShingle | Software testing; Information technology; Electronic mail; Software systems Software maintenance Zhou, Zhi Quan Sun, Liqun Chen, Tsong Yueh Towey, Dave Metamorphic relations for enhancing system understanding and use |
| title | Metamorphic relations for enhancing system understanding and use |
| title_full | Metamorphic relations for enhancing system understanding and use |
| title_fullStr | Metamorphic relations for enhancing system understanding and use |
| title_full_unstemmed | Metamorphic relations for enhancing system understanding and use |
| title_short | Metamorphic relations for enhancing system understanding and use |
| title_sort | metamorphic relations for enhancing system understanding and use |
| topic | Software testing; Information technology; Electronic mail; Software systems Software maintenance |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55380/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55380/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55380/ |