CAST - Static Testing and Reviews Questions and Answers 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: During a review meeting, the author of the requirements document presents the material to the development and testing teams, explaining their thought process to achieve a common understanding and gather feedback. Which type of review is being conducted?
- Inspection
- Technical Review
- Walkthrough (Correct answer)
- Informal Review
Correct answer: Walkthrough
A walkthrough is a review process where the author of the work product guides the participants through the document to achieve a common understanding, gather feedback, and build consensus. It is typically author-led and less formal than an inspection.
Question 2: Which of the following defects is MOST likely to be discovered by static analysis tools rather than by dynamic testing?
- A memory leak that occurs after several hours of operation.
- An incorrect calculation in a financial report.
- A section of code that can never be reached during execution. (Correct answer)
- A slow response time when the database is under a heavy load.
Correct answer: A section of code that can never be reached during execution.
Static analysis tools examine the code without executing it and are excellent at finding structural issues like dead or unreachable code. Memory leaks, incorrect calculations, and performance issues are typically behavioral or runtime problems discovered through dynamic testing.
Question 3: In the most formal type of review, a trained moderator leads the process, participants prepare by checking the work product against rules and checklists, and the main objective is defect identification. What is this type of review called?
- Walkthrough
- Inspection (Correct answer)
- Peer Review
- Audit
Correct answer: Inspection
An inspection is the most formal review type. It is highly structured, led by a trained moderator, involves individual preparation by reviewers using checklists, and has the primary goal of finding defects.
Question 4: A test team is reviewing a set of user stories for a new mobile application before any code has been written. They identify several ambiguities and contradictions in the acceptance criteria. What is the PRIMARY benefit of finding these defects at this stage?
- It improves the relationship between testers and developers.
- It reduces the cost of fixing the defects. (Correct answer)
- It allows for the immediate automation of test cases.
- It guarantees the final product will be completely bug-free.
Correct answer: It reduces the cost of fixing the defects.
The primary benefit of static testing, including reviews of requirements, is the early detection of defects. Finding and fixing defects early in the software development lifecycle is significantly cheaper and less time-consuming than fixing them after code has been written and integrated.
Question 5: Which of the following roles in a formal review is responsible for leading the review process, planning the meeting, and ensuring that the entry and exit criteria are met?
- Author
- Scribe
- Moderator (Correct answer)
- Reviewer
Correct answer: Moderator
The Moderator, or review leader, is responsible for the overall management of the review. This includes planning, scheduling, leading the meeting, ensuring the process is followed, and performing follow-up activities.
Question 6: Which of the following is a primary objective of static testing?
- To assess the performance and reliability of the system under load.
- To find defects by executing the software on the target hardware.
- To validate that the system's behavior matches user expectations.
- To identify defects in work products as early as possible in the lifecycle. (Correct answer)
Correct answer: To identify defects in work products as early as possible in the lifecycle.
The main goal of static testing is to find defects in software artifacts (like requirements, design, and code) early in the development process, before the code is executed. This is a preventative measure, making defects cheaper to fix. The other options describe objectives of dynamic testing.
CAST - Static Testing and Reviews Questions and Answers 1
During a review meeting, the author of the requirements document presents the material to the development and testing teams, explaining their thought process to achieve a common understanding and gather feedback.
Which type of review is being conducted?