Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!tivoli!alan
From: alan@tivoli.UUCP (Alan R. Weiss)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Code inspections
Message-ID: <372@tivoli.UUCP>
Date: 12 Feb 91 00:39:40 GMT
References: <14964@megatest.UUCP> <156342@felix.UUCP> <1991Jan31.151559.16415@bigsur.uucp> <1991Feb1.151945.22863@cs.uiuc.edu> <795@caslon.cs.arizona.edu>
Reply-To: alan@tivoli.UUCP (Alan R. Weiss)
Organization: Tivoli Systems Inc., Austin, TX
Lines: 56

In article <795@caslon.cs.arizona.edu> dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave P. Schaumann) writes:
>In article <1991Feb1.151945.22863@cs.uiuc.edu> marick@cs.uiuc.edu (Brian Marick) writes:
>>[...]
>>I apply the inspection checklist to look for those kinds of faults I
>>expect the other tests won't catch.  Then I run the tests and add new
>>ones until I've satisfied branch, loop, multi-condition, and weak
>>mutation coverage.  
>
>Forgive my ignorance, but what is "weak mutation coverage"?  Also, as long
>as I'm asking basic questions, what is "regression testing"?  I've seen the
>term in a few places, but I've never seen it defined, and a subject search
>in the library turned up nothing.
>
>>Brian Marick
>>Motorola @ University of Illinois
>>marick@cs.uiuc.edu, uiucdcs!marick
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>Dave Schaumann		|  And then -- what then?  Then, future...
>dave@cs.arizona.edu	|  		-Weather Report


Lemme give you the practical definition of "regression testing":
testing designed to ensure that a previously found bug has been
fixed, AND to ensure that in the correcting of the problem no new
bugs have been introduced into the baseline.

In further detail, once a bug is found a test case is identified,
or created if the defect was found during a user-level and/or ad hoc
test.  This test case is then run again AFTER the bug has been fixed
in the next drop to test.  A collection of such test cases forms
a Regression Test Bucket, or RTB (IBM terminology ... be creative here).

Never heard of "weak mutation coverage."  Anyone else?




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	|  Alan R. Weiss                                        |
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