Feature-Sensitive Coverage for Conformance Testing of Programming Language Implementations

Explore a groundbreaking approach to conformance testing of programming language implementations in this 19-minute video presentation from the PLDI 2023 conference. Delve into the concept of feature-sensitive (FS) coverage, a novel coverage criterion designed to generate high-quality conformance tests. Learn how this method extends traditional graph coverage by refining test requirements using innermost enclosing language features. Discover the feature-call-path-sensitive (FCPS) coverage variant and its application to JavaScript conformance testing. Gain insights into the effectiveness of these new coverage criteria through an evaluation of eight mainstream JavaScript implementations, revealing 143 distinct conformance bugs. Understand the potential impact of this research on improving the correctness and consistency of programming language execution environments.