Introduction to Test Coverage
The application developed these days are pretty complex as compared to the traditionally developed application due to the extra features added in the contemporary application. The entire software development cycle consists of several phases from planning to maintaining and one among those phases is software testing. Due to the extensive numbers of features in the application, it is required to test all of them to ensure the efficiency of the application. The testing could be manual or automated but the eventual goal of testing is the same and that is to make sure the application is working well. Here we will have a look at the methodology called test coverage that helps us to determine if the testing has been done properly.
What is Test Coverage?
- Test coverage may be defined as the methodology applied in the software testing to measure the part of testing that has been covered. As the name states, it shows the percentage of the test that has been covered by the means of manual or automated testing. The reason behind the introduction of this methodology is to improve the way testing has to be done. For the application that has lots of things to be tested, this approach makes sure that all the areas of the application have been tested successfully. It is mainly concerned with only the testing phase of the software development life cycle.
- It may also be defined as the percentage of the amount of test that has been covered and the part that is yet to be covered. It makes the pending and completed work represented in the form of digit so that the development and the testing team should be clear about the work that has to be done before the deadline. In order to calculate the percentage of test coverage, there is a particular formula that we will cover in the later section. Overall it is the way that enhances the efficiency of testing work and makes it easy for the entire team to monitor the progress in the testing phase.
How Test Coverage is Performed?
In order to calculate the test coverage or the percent of the amount of testing that has been covered, we are supposed to have the basic data or the details depending on which we will be getting the accurate test coverage. The very first thing is, you should understand the complete amount of lines of code that you are supposed to check, and the second thing is that you should have the number of lines of code that have been tested so far. The calculation has to be performed using both the information to calculate the test coverage. Below is the formula to calculate test coverage.
Let us consider an example to understand it in a better way. Suppose the total number of lines of code that has to be tested is 1000 while the number of lines tested as far is 150. So the test coverage could be calculated by using those values in the above-mentioned formula.
Test Coverage = (150/1000) * 100% = 15%
In the above-given case, the test coverage is 15% which means that 15% of testing has been done and rest 85% of testing is yet to be completed.
How Test Coverage Makes Working so Easy?
The value of the test coverage is considered by the testers to check if they are on way to finish the testing task before hitting the deadline. They can adjust their pace accordingly in order to get the testing done at the expected time. It gives the tester an edge to keep track of their work. Also, sharing the progress in testing work with the other teams or the leadership becomes very easy by the use of this methodology. Rather than explaining all kinds of testing and its progress to any party, it is way too easy to update them using the numerical data and it is the main reason behind the evolution of this methodology. It makes the testing phase of the software development life cycle very convenient as it makes it very clear to every member about how much amount of testing has to be done in specific intervals to achieve the testing goals.
Advantages of Test Coverage
The test coverage methodology has really made it very convenient to perform testing due to its several features that are liked by the testers. Below are some of the advantages of Test coverage.
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1. Monitoring Progress
The test coverage can be used to keep track of the progress made by the testing team to complete the tasks assigned to them before the specified timeline. It keeps on the testers updated about the pace they are heading towards their goals.
2. Meeting Deadline
By having an eye on the percentage calculated using the test coverage, one can adjust their speed of working to get their deliverables ready before the timeline which will eventually help them to keep their work up to date and will also help to refrain themselves from hitting deadline.
3. Sharing Work Status
Throughout the development cycle, it is required to keep on sharing the work status report with the concerned stakeholders. By bringing test coverage in use, one can deliver concise information by using the percentage outcome after test coverage calculation.
4. Improve Testing Approach
The test coverage is very helpful to keep the team updated about the time and work progress ratio so that they can try different approaches of working if required to complete the work effectively and efficiently which eventually leads to getting the testing approaches of the testers improved.
Conclusion
The test coverage has been considered as the best way of calculating the amount of testing work that has been completed or yet to be completed. It makes work a bit easy for the testers by keeping them aware of how things are flowing. It may also be used by the testers to make themselves planned for delivering the task assigned to them at a given time. It is one of the modern approaches that has been introduced into the contemporary way of developing the software.
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