What is test coverage?
In software development, test coverage is one of the key concepts that is used to calculate the amount of the codebase tested during the software testing. This tells you how much code has been executed while testing, giving you a sense of what parts of the app are already well-tested, and what parts may need more focus. If the test coverage values are high, then it means a vast part of code has been tested by the test and there are no bugs in production.
The importance of test coverage
The test coverage acts as a very good indicator of the quality and reliability of a software product. High test coverage allows developers to uncover untested or poorly tested code sections, which can be potential defect sources. This means that teams of development can concentrate on areas that are less likely to work in order to have a successful product that meets its requirements properly. Nevertheless, indeed high test coverage is good, but it is nonetheless true that a software application with high test coverage may still have bugs.
Types of test coverage
There are many ways to measure test coverage that focus on different aspects of code. Line coverage counts the number of lines of code that were executed in testing, whereas branch coverage looks at the number of decision points (if otherwise, etc.) in the code that are covered by testing. Path coverage addresses these by looking at the number of unique paths traversed through the application to make sure the code logic is heavily tested. By understanding the different types of test coverage, teams can be sure that their testing covers all of the potential risks.
Balancing test coverage with testing efficiency
Perfect test coverage, where all lines and all branches of the code are tested, can be time-consuming and costly. The amount of test coverage that developers can get, and the time and resources they have, will need to be balanced. Having 100% test coverage sounds like the ideal thing to have, but it’s not always practical or necessary. Instead, focusing on testing the most critical or high risk parts of the code, together with good test design, can provide good results in terms of the quality of software and productivity of development.
Limitations of test coverage
Test coverage is an important metric, but not a perfect one. High test coverage does not always define good tests. If the tests are themselves poorly designed, then one may achieve 100% coverage without delivering useful functionality, or even introducing bugs. Also, test coverage does not include any factors outside a system, such as a user behavior or system integration, which may not be fully tested by conventional unit or integration tests. As such, while test coverage is valuable, it should at all times be supported by other quality assurance metrics.
Conclusion
In conclusion, test coverage is very important for software development, as it helps teams determine if their testing efforts are thorough. This is further enhanced with the Opkey test automation solution that eliminates the need for an intermediate use of code to create and execute tests for both technical and non-technical users. Opkey has seamless integrations with tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, and GitHub to help teams deliver better test coverage across different test phases like functional or end-to-end integration. It combines AI-driven automation along with risk-based testing to ensure comprehensive test coverage and better software quality as well as faster development cycles.