Basis path testing: Difference between revisions

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In [[software engineering]], '''basis path testing''', or '''structured testing''',<ref name="nist">{{cite web|

url=http://www.mccabe.com/pdf/mccabe-nist235r.pdf| title=Structured Testing: A Testing Methodology Using the Cyclomatic Complexity Metric| author=Arthur H. Watson and Thomas J. McCabe| year=1996|publisher=NIST Special Publication 500-235}}</ref> is a [[White-box testing|white box method]] for designing [[test case]]s. The method analyzes the [[control flow graph]] of a program to find a set of linearly independent paths of [[execution (computing)|execution]]. The method normally uses McCabe' [[cyclomatic complexity]] to determine the number of linearly independent paths and then generates test cases for each path thus obtained.<ref name="Westfall2008">{{cite book|author=Linda Westfall|title=The Certified Software Quality Engineer Handbook|year=2008|publisher=ASQ Quality Press|isbn=978-0-87389-730-3|pages=436-437}}</ref> Basis path testing guarantees complete [[branch coverage]] (all edges of the [[control flow graph]]), but achieves that without covering all possible CFG [[Path (graph theory)|paths]]—the of the control flow graph—the latter is usually too costly.<ref name="SrikantShankar2002">{{cite book|author1=Y.N. Srikant|author2=Priti Shankar|title=The Compiler Design Handbook: Optimizations and Machine Code Generation|year=2002|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-4200-4057-9|page=249}}</ref> Basis path testing has been widely used and studied.<ref name="Binder2000">{{cite book|author=Robert V. Binder|title=Testing Object-oriented Systems: Models, Patterns, and Tools|year=2000|publisher=Addison-Wesley Professional|isbn=978-0-201-80938-1|page=378}}</ref>

==See also==