Code Complete, 2nd Edition

Keeping Test Records

Aside from making the testing process repeatable, you need to measure the project so that you can tell for sure whether changes improve or degrade it. Here are a few kinds of data you can collect to measure your project:

• Administrative description of the defect (the date reported, the person who reported it, a title or description, the build number, the date fixed)

• Full description of the problem

• Steps to take to repeat the problem

• Suggested workaround for the problem

• Related defects

• Severity of the problem—for example, fatal, bothersome, or cosmetic

• Origin of the defect: requirements, design, coding, or testing

• Subclassification of a coding defect: off-by-one, bad assignment, bad array index, bad routine call, and so on

• Classes and ...