Code Coverage and the Development Process

You may be thinking, geez NCover, you sure write a lot about code coverage. Guilty. Yes we do. We love it. We are happy to assist the .NET development community in building better applications and quality code. Since we are always talking about it, we get asked a lot of questions about it.

One of the most frequent is why do I need code coverage in my development process?

Code coverage is part of the code quality umbrella. Code quality is one of the most important concerns of any software development organization. You want to be able to see if you have a predictable code base and also make changes without upsetting the apple cart. Higher quality code should result in happier clients and customers.

There are certain groups that find it more engrained in their method. For example, code coverage is most valuable as a feedback mechanism for test-driven or agile development methodologies. Both of these methods rely on a developmental feedback loop that promotes the addition of features while maintaining a predictable quality level. Rapid development and technical prowess will only yield breakthrough results if customers can rely on the quality of your product.

Covering your code also reduces the costs of debugging deployed code. Once code has shipped, fixing a bug’s cost increases, on average,  by 1,000%. While cost savings may not be on every developer’s mind, it is an important factor to be able to continue building quality code and keeping customers happy and coming back.

Do you have additional questions about integrating code coverage into your development process? Set up a time to chat with one of our team to help see if it is a fit for you.