Several pairs of eyes see more than a single pair, this is true in manysettings – and an (almost) absolute truth in software development. It is the main principle for the reviews performed for checking and improving quality.
- A fundamental review process consists of the following acivities: Planning, overview, preparation, review meeting, rework and follow-up.
- The roles of the participants are manager, moderator, author, reviewer and recorder.
Types of reviews: There are several types, but the terminolory is defined differently in all litterature and standards.
The walkthrough is an informal procedure where the authors presents their douments to the reviewers in the meeting. There is little preparation for the meeting. The walkthrough is especially suitable for small development teams, for discussing alternatives, and for educating people.
The inspection is the most formal review process. Preparation is done using checklists, there are a defined entry and exit criteria, the meeting is chaired by a trained moderate, and data are collected and used for quality improvement and the inspection process itself.
In the tecnical review, the individual reviewers results are presented to the review leader prior to the meeting. The meeting is then prioritized by assumed importance of the individual issues. The author does not participate. Checking is done using documents only.
The informal review is not based on a formal procedure. The form the results will be presented, is not defined.
Since this type of review can be done with a minimal of effort, it’s acceptance is very high and in practice this review is common.
Generally, the type of review used is very much determined by the specific environment, I.E. the specific organization and project for which the review is used. The reviews are tailored to meet the spesification needs and requirenments which increases their efficiency. It’s important to establish a cooperative and collaborative atmosphere amongst the people involved in software development.
In addition to revies, a whole series of checks can be done for documents that have a formalized structure. these checks are called static analyses. The test object is not ecxecuted during a static analysis.
The most common analysis tool is the compiler. It reveals syntax errors int he program code. Usually, compilers provide even more checking and information. Analysis tools can also show violation of standards and other conventions.
Tools are available for checking irregularities in the data and control flow of the program. Useful information about control and data flow is generated, which often points to parts that could contain defects.
Quality are measured by metrics. The cyclomatic number is one such metric, which calulates the number of independent paths in the checked program. It is possible to gain information about structure and the testing effort.
In general, static analysis should be performed first, before a document is subjected to reviewing. Static analysis provide a cheap means to detect defects and thus make the reviews cheaper.