Walk Through

Walk Through:

1. Walkthroughs are the next step up from peer reviews.  In a walkthrough, the programmer who wrote the code formally presents it to a small group of five or so other programmers and testers.  The reviewers should receive copies of the software in advance of the review.  Having at least one senior programmer as a reviewer is very important.
2. The presenter reads through the code line by line, or function by function, explaining what the code does and why.  The reviewers listen and question anything that looks suspicious.  It's also very important that after the review the presenter writes a report telling what was found and how he plans to address any bugs discovered.

Code Inspection:

Aim: To discover some common types of errors caused due to oversight and improper programming.

It is a set of procedures and error detection techniques for group code reading

Code inspection checks for:

• Error that creep into the code due to programmer oversight
• Whether coding standard is followed while coding

Software organizations generally keep record of the different types of error that is committed by their programmers. They also identify the errors that are  commonly committed. This kind of record serves as a checklist during code inspection to look out for common errors.

Purpose and method :

• The main purpose of code inspection is to find defects and it can also spot any process improvement if any.
• An inspection report lists the findings, which include metrics that can be used to aid improvements to the process as well as correcting defects in the document under review.
• Preparation before the meeting is essential, which includes reading of any source documents to ensure consistency.
• Inspections are often led by a trained moderator, who is not the author of the code.
• The inspection process is the most formal type of review based on rules and checklists and makes use of entry and exit criteria.
• It usually involves peer examination of the code and each one has a defined set of roles.
• After the meeting, a formal follow-up process is used to ensure that corrective action is completed in a timely manner.