Abstract

Regression tests are conducted on new editions of an app to ensure backward compatibility with previous editions. Due to testing complexity, live, end-to-end regression tests are relatively rare. Therefore, regression tests may not truly reflect software behavior from a user perspective. This disclosure describes the use of statistical significance techniques to regression-test new editions of an app. Two editions are given similar inputs and configurations, and the user-facing outputs, e.g., screenshots of viewports of the user interface, are subjected to statistical significance tests that output a likelihood that the two outputs arise from the same source. Insubstantial differences are not presented as errors, while genuine differences between the two editions are flagged as potential backward-compatibility issues. Live production modules are tested such that testing is end-to-end and reflects user experience. The statistical, live, and end-to-end properties of the described testing techniques ease testing: adding a test is as simple as logging and subjecting the test metrics to the described statistical testing.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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