ITPEC FE Morning April 2022 Question 48
Which of the following is a technique that embeds logical expressions that hold true for the relations or conditions between variables at specific points in the execution of a program and verifies the validity of the program?
Explanation
Assertion check — conditions that must hold at given points are written into the program and verified as it runs.
An assertion such as assert( states the relation between variables expected at that point in the program. When execution reaches it, the condition is evaluated; if it is false, the program reports the violation, pinpointing where the actual state departs from the design. It is used in debugging and to verify that a program is valid.
Answer (a)
Why not others:
- •(b) Code trace — records the order in which statements execute and how values change, without stating what ought to be true
- •(c) Snapshot dump — prints the contents of memory or variables at chosen points for inspection, again with no condition to check
- •(d) Test coverage analysis — measures how much of the code, such as statements or branches, the tests have exercised, not whether conditions hold
Key rule: Traces and dumps show what happened; an assertion states what should be true and flags any difference automatically.
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