An Exploratory Study of Common Coding Faults in C Programs 16 Appendix

Large scale code testing can be made viable by determining and searching for the most probable faults in the system under examination. The results of an exploratory survey carried out to determine the common error factors for code written in C indicates that the program task and the programmer experience are important considerations. Using this information, testing can be directed e ciently towards the removal of prevalent coding faults. The results of the survey can also be useful in determining features of C which are likely to become the subject of corrective maintenance. An Exploratory Study of Common Coding Faults in C Programs I.M.M. Duncan & D.J. Robson Centre for Software Maintenance Computer Science, School of Engineering and Applied Science University of Durham Science Laboratories, South Road Durham, England DH1 3LE email : I.M.M.Duncan%[email protected] Dave.Robson%[email protected] tel. : Durham (091 or +44 91) 374 2635