This weeks lecture was presented by Michael Smith and targeted an introduction to testing and debugging. Initially was discussed when testing should begin in the Software Development process, the Design phase. As soon as the solution has been designed then tests for that solution can and should also be designed. During the implementation phase testing should be conducted as soon as compilation is complete. Documentation was also recognized early in the lecture as a key aspect of testing and debugging.
Pearl Of The Week: Types of errors in Programs:
- Syntax Errors -> Mistakes in spelling or unclosed parenthesis etc. Compiler will find these errors, preventing completion of compilation until they are amended.
- Execution/Run Time Errors -> Null Pointer Exceptions, Attempting to access arrays outside of bounds. Occurrence of these errors in Java will result in relevant exceptions thrown.
- Logic Errors -> Project has been compiled and runs without error but behavior is not as expected.
We then explored some examples of how important testing and debugging is by reviewing some examples where the process was not done correctly.
