Software Engineering | Testing | White Box Testing | Data-flow Testing

Data-flow Testing

Data-flow testing looks at the life-cycle of a particular piece of data (i.e. a variable) in an application. By looking for patterns of data usage, risky areas of code can be found and more test cases can be applied.

There are four ways data can be used: defined, used in a predicate, used in a calculation, and killed. Certain patterns, using a piece of data in a calculation after it has been killed, show an anomaly in the code, and therefore the possibility of a bug.

Author: Laurie Williams and Sarah Heckman

Maintained By: Sarah Heckman

Last Updated: 2008-08-25