Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37919406›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2023

Software defect prediction using learning to rank approach.

Ali Bou Nassif, Manar Abu Talib, Mohammad Azzeh, Shaikha Alzaabi, Rawan Khanfar, Ruba Kharsa, Lefteris Angelis

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Ali Bou NassifDepartment of Computer Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. anassif@sharjah.ac.ae.
Manar Abu TalibDepartment of Computer Science, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Mohammad AzzehDepartment of Data Science, Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Amman, Jordan.
Shaikha AlzaabiDepartment of Computer Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Rawan KhanfarDepartment of Computer Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Ruba KharsaDepartment of Computer Science, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Lefteris AngelisDepartment of Statistics and Information Systems, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Software defect prediction (SDP) plays a significant role in detecting the most likely defective software modules and optimizing the allocation of testing resources. In practice, though, project managers must not only identify defective modules, but also rank them in a specific order to optimize the resource allocation and minimize testing costs, especially for projects with limited budgets. This vital task can be accomplished using Learning to Rank (LTR) algorithm. This algorithm is a type of machine learning methodology that pursues two important tasks: prediction and learning. Although this algorithm is commonly used in information retrieval, it also presents high efficiency for other problems, like SDP. The LTR approach is mainly used in defect prediction to predict and rank the most likely buggy modules based on their bug count or bug density. This research paper conducts a comprehensive comparison study on the behavior of eight selected LTR models using two target variables: bug count and bug density. It also studies the effect of using imbalance learning and feature selection on the employed LTR models. The models are empirically evaluated using Fault Percentile Average. Our results show that using bug count as ranking criteria produces higher scores and more stable results across multiple experiment settings. Moreover, using imbalance learning has a positive impact for bug density, but on the other hand it leads to a negative impact for bug count. Lastly, using the feature selection does not show significant improvement for bug density, while there is no impact when bug count is used. Therefore, we conclude that using feature selection and imbalance learning with LTR does not come up with superior or significant results.

Identifiers

PMID37919406
PMCPMC10622444

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.