CC4J – code coverage for java a load-time adaptation success story

Abstract

Code coverage and tracing are extremely important for quality assurance in large scale software projects. When Java components are required to be deployed in distributed dynamic environments, e.g. as a part of an application server, load-time adaptation is the only practicable method capable of instrumenting these facilities. Load-time adaptation is, however, a relatively new technology whose scalability in industrial strength projects is so far unproven. This paper reports on the development of a quality assurance tool, CC4J, which has been implemented using novel load-time adaptation techniques. Our evaluation, performed in the context of a large-scale, deployed, Java software project, shows that this is a resoundingly successful approach. The system’s core has been implemented by one person in less than two weeks. Within less than four weeks after its first use CC4J was adopted by the entire project and the quality assurance department recommends adopting the tool in other projects.