Comparing the Defect Reduction Benefits of Code Inspection and Test-Driven Development

• Published in: IEEE transactions on software engineering Vol. 38; no. 3; pp. 547 - 560
• Main Authors: Wilkerson, J. W., Nunamaker, Jay F., Mercer, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.05.2012; IEEE Computer Society
• Subjects: Agile programming; code inspections and walk throughs; Computer programming; Computer science; Defective products; empirical study; Inspection; Java; Programming profession; reliability; Software; Software engineering; Studies; Test systems; test-driven development; Testing; testing strategies; University students; Writing
• ISSN: 0098-5589; 1939-3520
• DOI: 10.1109/TSE.2011.46

This study is a quasi experiment comparing the software defect rates and implementation costs of two methods of software defect reduction: code inspection and test-driven development. We divided participants, consisting of junior and senior computer science students at a large Southwestern university, into four groups using a two-by-two, between-subjects, factorial design and asked them to complete the same programming assignment using either test-driven development, code inspection, both, or neither. We compared resulting defect counts and implementation costs across groups. We found that code inspection is more effective than test-driven development at reducing defects, but that code inspection is also more expensive. We also found that test-driven development was no more effective at reducing defects than traditional programming methods.