PIT is a code coverage system for Java that goes much further than traditional tools and checks not only that your code is excersied, but that it is actually tested.

PIT achieves this via mutation testing - a technique that has been studied in academia for some time, but has not so far seen widespread commercial use. PIT aims to bring mutation testing into the mainstream of Java development.

The latest release delivers significant performance improvements, running around 200% faster than earlier releases. Also included are support for PowerMock and a number of usability improvements.

The web site mentions that mutation testing is computationally intensive. However the results can only change if the test or the code changes. I think an incremental PIT plugin would be a killer app.

Hi Akiva,

This is exactly the sort of thing I am looking to do over the next few releases - starting to push the coverage and class data into a database and using this to optimise the the analysis. I'd been looking at this from a very low level in terms of a series of optimisations that could be made - I rather like your view of this as an incremental plugin and will have to steal the phrase incremental mutation testing.

Thanks for some very useful input.

No problem. Just keep up the good work so I can use this thing!