Engineering video
0:51 · 25 February 2023
While higher code coverage is often associated with greater confidence, aiming for 100% results in overly complex tests that produce bugs rather than preventing them; teams generally aim for 70 to 80% coverage.
Hear it at 0:22 →So it's a 100% code coverage something I should aim for? Hey, if you've been trying to improve your testing skills, you've heard about the concept of code coverage. Basically, how much of your code is covered by tests measured as a percentage of the lines of code coverage. One of the issues when you assign metrics to things is that developers start getting crazy about them. They think hey, the more code coverage the better.
I can have more confidence in my code. Not really. In fact, it is unreasonable to aim for 100% code coverage. Is after a certain point you will get diminishing results, your tests will become too complex, hard to write and start producing bugs rather than helping to prevent them. The exact code coverage you will aim for will depend on what your team will agree to, but in general, aim for anything between 70 to 80%.
And even less if you're only using unit testing.
