Code Walkthrough

Introduction of Code Walkthrough

Code Walkthrough is an informal code of analysis technique. In this technique after a module has been coded, it is successfully compiled and all syntax errors are eliminated. In walkthroughs, a set of people look at the program code and answer the questions. If the author is unable to answer some questions, he or she then takes those questions and finds their answers. Some members of the development team are given the code a few days before the walkthrough meeting to read and understand the code. Each member selects some test cases and simulates the execution of the code by hand. The main objectives of code Walkthrough are to discover the algorithmic and logical errors in the code.

How Does Code Walkthrough is Working?

A code Walkthrough is characterized by the author of the document under the review guiding the participants through the document and his or her through processes, to achieve a common understanding and to gather the feedback. This is especially useful if people from outside the software discipline are present. Who are not used to? Or cannot easily understand software development documents. The content of the document is explained step by step by the author, to reach the consequences on changes or you gather the information.

Within a walkthrough, the author does most of the preparation. The participants who are selected from the different departments and backgrounds are not required to do a detailed study of the documents in advance. Because of the way the meeting is structured, a large number of people can participate and this large audience can bring a great number of diverse viewpoints regarding the contents of the document being reviewed as well as serving an educational purpose. If the Audience represent a broad cross section of skills and disciplines, it can five assurance that no major defects are missed in the code walkthrough. A code walkthrough is especially useful for higher-level documents, such as required specifications and architectural documents.

Goals of Code Walkthrough

The specific goal of the code walkthrough depends on its role in the creation of the document. In the general following, goals can be applicable.

• To present the document to stakeholders both within and outside the software discipline in order to gather information regarding the topic covered by the document.
• To establish a common understanding of the documents.
• To explain and evaluate the contents of the documents.
• To examine and discuss the validity of proposed solutions and the viability of alternatives, establishing consensus.

Guidelines to perform code Walkthrough

• The team performing the code Walkthrough should not be either too big or too small. Ideally, it should consist of three to seven members.
• The discussion should focus on the discovery of errors and not to how to fix the discovered errors.
• In order to promote cooperation and to avoid the feeling among the engineers that they are being evaluated in the code Walkthrough meeting, managers should not attend the walkthrough meetings.

Characteristics of Code Walkthrough

The key characteristics of code walkthrough are as follows

• The meeting is led by the author or authors; often a separate scribe is present.
• Scenarios and dry runs may be used to validate the content.
• Separate pre meeting preparation for reviewers is optional.

Advantage

Some of the advantages are given below:

• Walkthrough brings multiple perspectives.
• code walkthrough meeting is managed by the document creator under Analysis along with team members
• It involves session which comes under the review may be formal or informal.
• Thru primary aim of the code walkthrough is to empower the knowledge around the content if the document under review to support the team members.
• It increases the awareness of the content of the document and also discover the bugs.

Disadvantage

Some of the disadvantages are given below:

• Completeness is limited to the area where questions are raised by the team.
• There is a lack of diversity in code walkthrough with the author driving the process and others simply clarifying what has been said matches what has been done.
• It creates a lack of depth.
• Meetings can be extremely time consuming and can be hard to manage when the participants are separated by many time zones.

Code Walkthrough Tools

There are various tools that can be used for code walkthrough. We are going to discussed some of them in this section.

• Review Board: It is web based tool used for code walkthrough. It is an open source tool that is used to test the code. It allows users to perform both pre commit and post commit code walkthrough review depends on the requirements.
• Crucible: It is an another best code walkthrough review tools which allows user to review the code, discuss the changes in the plan and identify the bugs across the control system.
• Collaborator: It is another code walkthrough review tools that enables team members to review the code as well as Designed documents too.
• CodeScene: These tools allow the user to review the code beyond the traditional static code analysis. It performs the behavior code Analysis.

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