Assessing the Relation Between Quantity of Test Cases and Amount of Code Coverage

Abstract—The software testing process can be unpredictable due to deficiencies in the measurement process, resulting in poor quality of software releases. Code coverage analysis is a vital activity in any software testing process. It provides developers with a measure of how well their source code is being exercised by the test runs. Several types of code coverage include the statement, branch and symbol coverage. The focus of this paper is to find out the relationship, if any, between the quantity of test cases and amount of code coverage. Code coverage process is automated through software known as code coverage tool. In this research, NCover code coverage tool is used to measure the above mentioned relationship. NCover is the.Net code coverage tool which shows the untested part of code. For analyzing the relationship, we have used a project “Secure Mailing System” which a web based application that sends and receives messages in a secure manner by encrypting them. Results showed that there is no relationship between number of test cases and amount of code coverage. Code coverage depends on the quality of test cases rather than the quantity. The association found in this research is an important software quality indicator capable for use in describing the software test effectiveness. The results of this research are valuable data for guidance to future research in code coverage analysis