code coverage

Code coverage is a measure used in software testing. It describes the degree to which the source code of a program has been tested. It is a form of testing that inspects the code directly and is therefore a form of white box testing^[1].

 

Basic coverage criteria

There are a number of coverage criteria, the main ones being:^[3]

• Function coverage - Has each function (or subroutine) in the program been called?
• Statement coverage - Has each node in the program been executed?
• Branch coverage - Has every edge in the program been executed?
• Decision coverage (also known as branch coverage) - Has each control structure (such as an IF statement) evaluated both to true and false?
• Condition coverage (or predicate coverage) - Has each boolean sub-expression evaluated both to true and false? This does not necessarily imply decision coverage.
• Condition/decision coverage - Both decision and condition coverage should be satisfied.

代码覆盖率，简单来说代码被执行过，就是“覆盖过”，如果一段程序运行了一组测试用例之后，100%的代码被执行了，那么是否就说明再也不用写新的测试用例了呢？

答案是否定的。

（1）不同代码是否执行，有很多组合，一行代码被执行过，没有问题，并不表明这一行程序在所有可能条件的组合下都能正确无误地运行。

（2）代码覆盖不能测出还没有写的代码（缺少的逻辑）导致的错误。

比如：

a. 没有检查过程调用的返回值；

b. 没有释放资源。

（3）代码覆盖不能测出效能问题。

（4）代码覆盖不能测出时序问题，由时序导致的程序错误（例如：线程之间的同步）。

（5）代码中和用户界面相关的功能不能简单地以代码覆盖率来衡量优劣。

reference:

1. http://book.51cto.com/art/200902/108511.htm

2. http://emma.sourceforge.net/intro.html