26 lines
1,008 B
Markdown
26 lines
1,008 B
Markdown
---
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title: >
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Is code coverage an objective or guideline?
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pubDate: 2023-11-02
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permalink: >-
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daily/2023/11/02/is-code-coverage-an-objective-or-guideline
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tags:
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- software-development
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- automated-testing
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- test-driven-development
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---
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Many development teams and projects use code coverage - e.g. how many lines of code are covered by automated tests - as an objective, and saying it must be 100% or another percentage.
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But is this an effective metric?
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In the same way as deleting failing tests to fix a pipeline, a code coverage amount can be faked.
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With this in mind, what if, instead of setting an objective such as 100% code coverage, you used it as a guideline?
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If you're working on a legacy project, what if you set a minimum code coverage amount as a guideline to ensure any new code has tests by not dropping under that level?
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Would that be better than saying every line of code needs to be covered?
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Code coverage is something I'm thinking of using more, so I want to know what you think.
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