Algorithms Quality Control & Assurance 4

Question 1

In mutation testing, what is a 'surviving mutant' an indicator of?

Accepted Answer

A code change not caught by any test, revealing a test gap

Answer

A surviving mutant means the test suite failed to detect an injected code defect, exposing a gap in test coverage or assertion strength.

Question 2

What is the primary benefit of continuous integration (CI) for algorithm quality?

Accepted Answer

Automatically running tests on every code commit to catch issues early

Answer

CI pipelines run the full test suite on each commit, catching defects immediately after they are introduced rather than later in the cycle.

Question 3

Which practice involves reviewing each other's code before merging to catch defects early?

Accepted Answer

Peer code review

Answer

Peer code review has another developer inspect submitted code for bugs, style issues, and logical errors before it is merged into the main branch.

Question 4

What does 'branch coverage' in testing require?

Accepted Answer

Every possible branch (true/false) of every decision is executed

Answer

Branch coverage requires that each true and false outcome of every conditional statement is exercised by the test suite at least once.

Question 5

What is the key difference between verification and validation in software quality?

Accepted Answer

Verification checks correctness against specs; validation confirms it meets user needs

Answer

Verification asks 'Are we building the product right?' (spec conformance), while validation asks 'Are we building the right product?' (user need fulfillment).

Algorithms Practice Test

Algorithms Practice Test

Algorithms Quality Control & Assurance 4