# An empirical study of Linespots: A novel past-fault algorithm

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.09394 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.09394/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 18 Jul 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Applications of statistical causal inference in software engineering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.11482/) (2022)
- [Causal Reasoning in Software Quality Assurance: A Systematic Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.17183/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper proposes the novel past-faults fault prediction algorithm Linespots, based on the Bugspots algorithm. We analyze the predictive performance and runtime of Linespots compared to Bugspots with an empirical study using the most significant self-built dataset as of now, including high-quality samples for validation. As a novelty in fault prediction, we use Bayesian data analysis and Directed Acyclic Graphs to model the effects. We found consistent improvements in the predictive performance of Linespots over Bugspots for all seven evaluation metrics. We conclude that Linespots should be used over Bugspots in all cases where no real-time performance is necessary.