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Test Coverage Levels

Function coverage

→ Which functions of your code have already been called?

Function coverage measures during tests:

  • how many times each function has been entered;
  • how many times its closing brace has been reached ( ≈ how many times function's code has been fully read).
This is a quite weak test coverage measure but gives anyway a rough estimate for the thoroughness of the testing.



Decision (Branch) coverage

→ Which decisions in your code (if-statement or loop conditions) have already been evaluated both to "true" AND "false"?

For each function, Decision coverage measures whether:

  • each branch in a switch-statement has been taken or not;
  • each explicit control transfer (goto, break, continue, return, throw) has been taken or not;
  • each exception handler has been visited.
This code coverage metric enables you, regarding Function coverage, to get a more accurate percentage of already run code.



Condition coverage

→ Which conditions of your code (e.g. boolean expressions separated with a logical "or" in an if-statement) have already been evaluated both to "true" AND "false"?

Looking a bit like Decision coverage, Condition coverage measures, for each conditionnal node of each function, whether all atomic boolean sub-expressions contained in the condition have already been evaluated both to "true" and "false".


Modified condition/decision coverage - MC/DC - MCDC

→ Which conditions in your code have already been evaluated both to "true" AND "false" affecting independently the decision's outcome?

On top of Condition and Decision coverage criteria, Modified condition/decision coverage implies that each condition should be evaluated (at least one time) in a case where it affects independently the decision's outcome. A condition is shown to independently affect a decision's outcome by varying just that condition while holding fixed all other possible conditions.

This metric conforms to the international technical standard DO-178B which specifies the criteria for software certification for mission-critical equipment and systems within the aviation industry .

  • Pros: needs less test cases than MCC
    ( n conditions ⇒ n+1 tests).
  • Cons: test cases will not always be easily found...


Multicondition coverage - Multiple condition coverage - MCC

→ Which decisions of your code have already been evaluated with all possible combinations of conditions?

On top of Condition coverage criteria, Multicondition coverage implies that, for each decision, each possible combination of boolean values for conditions should be evaluated.

  • Pros: an assured code quality since all possibilities are tested.
  • Cons: needs more test cases than MCDC.
    ( n conditions ⇒ 2n tests).


The Test Coverage Analyzer Testwell CTC++ can analyses for all kinds of test coverage criteria (particularly for MC/DC and MCC) requested for the development of critical software in order to get certifications.

Glossary:

Condition: a logical indivisible (atomic) expression. It is often called boolean variable, represented by a capital letter (A, B, C, etc.), can only be equal to "true" or "false", but can not be divided in other simpler "sub-conditions".

Decision : a logical expression which can be composed of several conditions separated by logical operators like "or", "and", "xor".