New Architect > Archives > 2001 > 04 > Programming Product Review

Shaking out the Bugs

By Michiel de Bruijn

No matter how carefully you craft your code, errors will inevitably creep in, especially on complex projects that lack systematic testing methodologies. (And no, every developer just exercising his or her favorite features on a semiregular basis doesn't count.)

Even when software defects aren't your primary concern, making sure your projects adhere to certain coding standards and naming conventions can reduce the costs of future maintenance. A number of well-developed tools battle software quality problems, but most come with issues of their own. For example, peer code review is very effective, but also labor intensive. Thus, it tends to be the first thing to fly out the window when schedule pressure starts building.

Automated testing is a great idea as well, but the current generation of testing tools only yields results if a lot of time is spent on implementation and maintenance. Unless specific code is written for each testing situation, automated tool output tends to be nothing more than pedantic comments that are ignored by everyone. In which case, the overnight code test is just a waste of time.

JTest version 3.2 ParaSoft www.parasoft.com $3495 (Windows, Solaris, and Linux versions) Pros: Low learning curve; extensive test suite; reasonable price. Cons: Beyond test parameters, customization features are limited.