Chapter 11: Path Analysis

Overview

"The path not tested is certain to blow up when the users get the product"

-One of the few certainties of testing

A labyrinth or maze is a perplexing arrangement of pathways designed in such a way that anyone entering has great difficulty finding the way out. The paths through a software system are a maze that the software tester must navigate, not just one time, but many times while the software system evolves and changes. Certainly, this is a daunting task, but software testers are not the first people to grapple with it. The subject of maze traversal has been on people's minds in one way or another for a very long time.