Test Coverage (computing)
The term Test Coverage used in the context of programming / software engineering, refers to measuring how much a software program has been exercised by tests. Coverage is a means of determining the rigour with which the question underlying the test has been answered. There are many kinds of test coverage:
- code coverage,
- feature coverage,
- scenario coverage,
- screen item coverage
- model coverage.
Each of these coverage types assumes that some kind of baseline exists which defines the system under test. The number of types of test coverage therefore varies as the number of ways of defining the system.
For example, in code coverage:
- has a particular statement ever been executed?
- how many times has a statement been executed?
- have all the statements in a program been executed, at least once?
- have all the decision points in the code been exercised such that every decision path has been taken?
- has the last optimization reduced the instruction path length significantly?
Read more about this topic: Fault Coverage
Famous quotes containing the word test:
“In my utter impotence to test the authenticity of the report of my senses, to know whether the impressions they make on me correspond with outlying objects, what difference does it make, whether Orion is up there in heaven, or some god paints the image in the firmament of the soul?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)