The Art of Software Testing, Second Edition

3.2. Code Inspections

A code inspection is a set of procedures and error-detection techniques for group code reading. Most discussions of code inspections focus on the procedures, forms to be filled out, and so on; here, after a short summary of the general procedure, we will focus on the actual error-detection techniques.

An inspection team usually consists of four people. One of the four people plays the role of moderator. The moderator is expected to be a competent programmer, but he or she is not the author of the program and need not be acquainted with the details of the program. The duties of the moderator include

• Distributing materials for, and scheduling, the inspection session

• Leading the session

• Recording all errors found

• Ensuring that the errors are subsequently corrected

The moderator is like a quality-control engineer. The second team member is the programmer. The remaining team members usually are the program's designer (if different from the programmer) and a test specialist.

The moderator distributes the program's listing and design specification to the other participants several days in advance of the inspection session. The participants are expected to familiarize themselves with the material prior to the session. During the session, two activities occur:

• The programmer narrates, statement by statement, the logic of the program. During the discourse, other participants should raise questions, and they should be pursued to determine whether errors exist. It is likely ...