How Mutation Testing Reveals Your Tests Are Lying
from Software Testing with Fexingo: QA, Automation, and Reliable Software Engineering Hosted by Fexingo
In episode 80 of Software Testing with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore mutation testing—a technique that surgically introduces bugs into your source code to see if your tests catch them. They walk through a real example using a banking application's withdrawal function, showing how mutation testing exposes tests that pass even when they should fail. Lucas explains the concept of a 'killed mutant' (a caught bug) versus a 'surviving mutant' (a test that's lying to you), and shares a startling statistic: studies show up to 30% of apparently passing unit tests in production codebases fail to detect at least one mutation. The hosts discuss why mutation testing is slow but invaluable, and how tools like PITest and Stryker are making it practical. Luna challenges Lucas on whether mutation testing is worth the compute cost, and they both agree it catches the silent confidence trick your test suite plays on you. No clickbait—just a concrete testing technique that every serious engineer should know. #MutationTesting #SoftwareTesting #TestQuality #QA #Automation #PITest #Stryker #FaultInjection #UnitTesting #CodeCoverage #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Technology #TestingStrategy #DevOps #CI #CodeQuality #SoftwareEngineering Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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