2.3 – Producing robust programs

Question 1

What is Anticipating Misuse?

Answer 1

The ability of a programmer to consider how the end user might accidently (or on purpose) break the program and then to write additional code to handle these situations
(Exception handling)

Question 2

What is Authentication?

Answer 2

Verifying a user identity before they can use a program

e.g. with a username and password

Question 3

What are Comments?

Answer 3

Used by a programmer to explain sections of code making the program more readable

Comments are ignored by the compiler

Question 4

What is Maintainability?

Answer 4

Techniques that make code easy to debug, update and maintain

e.g. using descriptive variable/subroutine names, using comments etc.

Question 5

What is Validation?

Answer 5

Checking data input by the user meets specific criteria before processing
eg. range check, type check, presence check etc

Question 6

What is Boundary Test Data?

Answer 6

Data that is at the edge of validity
eg month 1-12, 0 1 12 & 13 are boundary cases

Question 7

What is Erroneous Test Data?

Answer 7

Data of the incorrect type which should be rejected by a computer system
eg. ‘january’ input when month is 1-12

Question 8

What is Final/Terminal Testing?

Answer 8

Testing that all the modules of a program work together as expected /
Checking the program meets the expectations of the user with real data

Question 9

What is Invalid Test Data?

Answer 9

Data of the correct type but outside accepted validation limits
eg. asks for num 0-100, invalid data includes a letter, symbol, decimal etc.

Question 10

What is Iterative Testing?

Answer 10

Each module of a program is tested as it is developed

Question 11

What is a Logic Error?

Answer 11

The program runs but does not give the expected output

Question 12

What is Normal Test Data?

Answer 12

Data supplied to a program which you would expect
eg. scores 0-100, normal data could be 32, 40, 82 etc.

Question 13

What is a Syntax Error?

Answer 13

Rules of the language have been broken (ie. misspell, forgotten :)
The program will not run

Question 14

What is Test Data?

Answer 14

Values used to test a program under a variety of situations and states

Question 15

What is Testing?

Answer 15

Checking a program works as intended:
- Does not contain logic errors
- Acceptable performance/usability
- Preventing unauthorised access
(or meets requirements)

Question 16

What is Defensive Design in program production?

Answer 16

Handling all likely inputs & invalid data

Question 17

What is a Naming Convention?

Answer 17

A standard adopted for naming data structures and subroutines for consistency
eg. camelCase or medial capitals