Cross-Version Software Defect Prediction Considering Concept Drift and Chronological Splitting

Md Alamgir Kabir, Atiq Ur Rehman, M. M. Manjurul Islam, Nazakat Ali, Marcia L. Baptista, Theodore E. Simos (Editor)

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

Concept drift (CD) refers to a phenomenon where the data distribution within datasets changes over time, and this can have adverse effects on the performance of prediction models in software engineering (SE), including those used for tasks like cost estimation and defect prediction. Detecting CD in SE datasets is difficult, but important, because it identifies the need for retraining prediction models and in turn improves their performance. If the concept drift is caused by symmetric changes in the data distribution, the model adaptation process might need to account for this symmetry to maintain accurate predictions. This paper explores the impact of CD within the context of cross-version defect prediction (CVDP), aiming to enhance the reliability of prediction performance and to make the data more symmetric. A concept drift detection (CDD) approach is further proposed to identify data distributions that change over software versions. The proposed CDD framework consists of three stages: (i) data pre-processing for CD detection; (ii) notification of CD by triggering one of the three flags (i.e., CD, warning, and control); and (iii) providing guidance on when to update an existing model. Several experiments on 30 versions of seven software projects reveal the value of the proposed CDD. Some of the key findings of the proposed work include: (i) An exponential increase in the error-rate across different software versions is associated with CD. (ii) A moving-window approach to train defect prediction models on chronologically ordered defect data results in better CD detection than using all historical data with a large effect size (Formula presented.).

Original languageEnglish
Article number1934
Pages (from-to)1-25
JournalSymmetry
Volume15
Issue number10
Early online date18 Oct 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished online - 18 Oct 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.

Keywords

  • concept drift
  • software defect prediction
  • cross-version defect prediction
  • chronological splitting

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