Code integrity

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Code integrity is a measurement used in the software delivery lifecycle. It measures how high the source code's quality is when it is passed on to QA, and is affected by how thoroughly the code was processed by correctness-checking processes (whether manual or automatic). Examples for such correctness-checking processes can be unit testing and integration testing, code review, test automation, AI-based code analysis etc. [1] Code integrity is the combination of applying code correctness processes (software quality) along with metrics that measure the completeness of these correctness-checking processes, such as, for example, code coverage. While code integrity is usually achieved by unit testing the source code to reach high code coverage, it is definitely not the only way, or the best way, to achieve code integrity. In fact, code coverage, a popular metric to measure the thoroughness of unit tests, is known to have a limited correlation with the measure of real code integrity. [2]

Contents

Developer's confidence

Code integrity is not just about the correctness of the code, but also about developers’ confidence regarding correctness of their code. With code integrity, the developer can be sure that his/her code is written correctly when passed on to QA. This is, in fact, the expected quality level of the code. Code integrity helps developers and companies release better products, with fewer bugs, in a shorter time. [3]

Shift-left testing and shift-left code integrity

Companies who practice code integrity avoid the classic scenario where the development stage is delayed, delaying the QA stage, delaying the release stage. Products of companies that do not adopt code integrity are released with more bugs (due to time pressure), users report tons of bugs back to the development team, and they start working on version 1.1 shortly after releasing version 1.0, just to fix bugs that could have been avoided.[ citation needed ]

Shift-left testing is a method to perform related testing during the initial processes of software development, since the QA department cannot measure the code's integrity even after all their tests are run. Shift-left testing and code integrity are tightly connected but integrity consists not only of the testing part of the job which is a sub-task of the larger process of shift-left code integrity. This process not only applies more unit tests along with higher code coverage, but also involves various other correctness-checking processes against relevant data. [4] Here are some examples:

Examples of correctness-checking completeness metrics
Advantages of shift-left code integrity

Shift-left code integrity enablement

This concept is based on the fact that developers would be able to make full use of the technological advantage if they have the relevant testing tools available to them from the start. As newer software become more and more complex and includes more dependencies, including the right side of the V-model in developers' roles will help them to assume control of the unit testing & integration processes. [3] [5] The result will allow developers to bring up complete environments in many software companies. This trend is expected to continue because in many cases it is impossible to perform unit/integration testing without the full system's context. [6]

Related Research Articles

Software testing is the act of examining the artifacts and the behavior of the software under test by validation and verification. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to appreciate and understand the risks of software implementation. Test techniques include, but are not necessarily limited to:

Regression testing is re-running functional and non-functional tests to ensure that previously developed and tested software still performs as expected after a change. If not, that would be called a regression.

A sanity check or sanity test is a basic test to quickly evaluate whether a claim or the result of a calculation can possibly be true. It is a simple check to see if the produced material is rational. The point of a sanity test is to rule out certain classes of obviously false results, not to catch every possible error. A rule-of-thumb or back-of-the-envelope calculation may be checked to perform the test. The advantage of performing an initial sanity test is that of speedily evaluating basic function.

In computer programming, unit testing is a software testing method by which individual units of source code—sets of one or more computer program modules together with associated control data, usage procedures, and operating procedures—are tested to determine whether they are fit for use. It is a standard step in development and implementation approaches such as Agile.

Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to assure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design, reliability, and maintainability expectations of that customer. The core purpose of Quality Assurance is to prevent mistakes and defects in the development and production of both manufactured products, such as automobiles and shoes, and delivered services, such as automotive repair and athletic shoe design. Assuring quality and therefore avoiding problems and delays when delivering products or services to customers is what ISO 9000 defines as that "part of quality management focused on providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled". This defect prevention aspect of quality assurance differs from the defect detection aspect of quality control and has been referred to as a shift left since it focuses on quality efforts earlier in product development and production and on avoiding defects in the first place rather than correcting them after the fact.

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In software project management, software testing, and software engineering, verification and validation (V&V) is the process of checking that a software system meets specifications and requirements so that it fulfills its intended purpose. It may also be referred to as software quality control. It is normally the responsibility of software testers as part of the software development lifecycle. In simple terms, software verification is: "Assuming we should build X, does our software achieve its goals without any bugs or gaps?" On the other hand, software validation is: "Was X what we should have built? Does X meet the high-level requirements?"

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In the context of software engineering, software quality refers to two related but distinct notions:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Continuous integration</span> Software development practice based on frequent submission of granular changes

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parasoft C/C++test</span> Integrated set of tools

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Development testing is a software development process that involves synchronized application of a broad spectrum of defect prevention and detection strategies in order to reduce software development risks, time, and costs.

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References

  1. ↑ Sharma, Tushar; Kechagia, Maria; Georgiou, Stefanos; Tiwari, Rohit; Vats, Indira; Moazen, Hadi; Sarro, Federica (2021). "A Survey on Machine Learning Techniques for Source Code Analysis". arXiv: 2110.09610 [cs.SE].
  2. ↑ Hemmati, Hadi (2015). "How Effective Are Code Coverage Criteria?". 2015 IEEE International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security. pp. 151–156. doi:10.1109/QRS.2015.30. ISBN   978-1-4673-7989-2. S2CID   7305779 . Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  3. 1 2 Gadi Zimerman (11 November 2022). "Tests are not enough – Why code integrity matters?" . Retrieved 16 March 2023.
  4. ↑ Bjerke-Gulstuen, Kristian; Larsen, Emil Wiik; Stålhane, Tor; Dingsøyr, Torgeir (2015). "High Level Test Driven Development – Shift Left". Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing. Vol. 212. pp. 239–247. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-18612-2_23. ISBN   978-3-319-18611-5 . Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  5. ↑ Rook, Paul, E. Rook (1986). "Controlling software projects". Software Engineering Journal. 1 (1): 7–16. doi:10.1049/sej.1986.0003 . Retrieved 15 March 2023.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Mowad, Abrar Mohammad; Fawareh, Hamed; Hassan, Mohammad A. (2022). "Effect of Using Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD) Deployment in DevOps to reduce the Gap between Developer and Operation". 2022 International Arab Conference on Information Technology (ACIT). pp. 1–8. doi:10.1109/ACIT57182.2022.9994139. ISBN   979-8-3503-2024-4. S2CID   255419041 . Retrieved 15 March 2023.
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