Design, Testing & IDEs

• Comments (written with a # or //) are useful for explaining the code
• Indentation can be used to separate different statements in a program
• Defensive design helps to ensure programs function properly
• Range check checks the data is within a specified range
• Presence check checks the data has actually been entered
• Format check checks the data has the correct format (e.g. a date)
• Look-up table checks the data against a table of acceptable values
• Length check checks the data is the correct length
• Syntax errors can be diagnosed by compilers and interpeters. They'll be unable to translate the source code and a syntax error will be returned.
• Logic errors are more difficult to diagnose because they are found through general use of the program.
• Iterative testing is testing the program during development. Continuously repeating the test until the module is working correctly.
• Final (terminal) testing is when the program is tested at the end of development process.
• Normal data - things a user is likely to enter into the program
• Boundary (extreme) data - values at the limit of what the program should be able to handle
• Invalid data - inputs with a correct data type that should be rejected by the program
• Erroneous data - inputs with a incorrect data type that should be rejected by the program