arXiv subjects

Marius Smytzek

Publications and source records attributed to Marius Smytzek.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

How do Execution Features Improve Statistical Fault Localization? An Empirical Study

Automated fault localization helps developers find faults in large code bases. Statistical fault localization (SFL) ranks suspicious lines from pass/fail spectra, but line execution alone misses information like data-flow, values, or branch conditions that explain why a failure occurs. This study evaluates whether augmenting SFL with execution features improves localization accuracy and developer-oriented inspection effort. We extract execution features with EFDD for all Tests4Py subjects, train per-subject random forests, map importances to source lines, and combine the resulting weights with established SFL formulas. The evaluation measures reference-patch accuracy, line- and function-level effort, robustness, and feasibility using a confounder-adjusted mixed-effects model, corroborated by paired statistical tests and outcome-neutral quality checks.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2025

How Execution Features Relate to Failures: An Empirical Study and Diagnosis Approach

Fault localization is a fundamental aspect of debugging, aiming to identify code regions likely responsible for failures. Traditional techniques primarily correlate statement execution with failures, yet program behavior is influenced by diverse execution features-such as variable values, branch conditions, and definition-use pairs-that can provide richer diagnostic insights. In an empirical study of 310 bugs across 20 projects, we analyzed 17 execution features and assessed their correlation with failure outcomes. Our findings suggest that fault localization benefits from a broader range of execution features: (1) Scalar pairs exhibit the strongest correlation with failures; (2) Beyond line executions, def-use pairs and functions executed are key indicators for fault localization; and (3) Combining multiple features enhances effectiveness compared to relying solely on individual features. Building on these insights, we introduce a debugging approach to diagnose failure circumstances. The approach extracts fine-grained execution features and trains a decision tree to differentiate passing and failing runs. From this model, we derive a diagnosis that pinpoints faulty locations and explains the underlying causes of the failure. Our evaluation demonstrates that the generated diagnoses achieve high predictive accuracy, reinforcing their reliability. These interpretable diagnoses empower developers to efficiently debug software by providing deeper insights into failure causes.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2024

Tests4Py: A Benchmark for System Testing

Benchmarks are among the main drivers of progress in software engineering research. However, many current benchmarks are limited by inadequate system oracles and sparse unit tests. Our Tests4Py benchmark, derived from the BugsInPy benchmark, addresses these limitations. It includes 73 bugs from seven real-world Python applications and six bugs from example programs. Each subject in Tests4Py is equipped with an oracle for verifying functional correctness and supports both system and unit test generation. This allows for comprehensive qualitative studies and extensive evaluations, making Tests4Py a cutting-edge benchmark for research in test generation, debugging, and automatic program repair.

cs.SE↗