Polyspace Verification and the Software Development Cycle

• Software Quality and Productivity

• Best Practices for Verification Workflow

Software Quality and Productivity

The goal of most software development teams is to maximize both quality and productivity. However, when developing software, there are always three related variables: cost, quality, and time.

Changing the requirements for one of these variables always impacts the other two.

Generally, the criticality of your application determines the balance between these three variables – your quality model. With classical testing processes, development teams generally try to achieve their quality model by testing all modules in an application until each meets the required quality level. Unfortunately, this process often ends before quality requirements are met, because the available time or budget has been exhausted.

Polyspace verification allows a different process. Polyspace verification can support both productivity improvement and quality improvement at the same time, although there is always a balance between the aims of these activities.

To achieve maximum quality and productivity, however, you cannot simply perform code verification at the end of the development process. You must integrate verification into your development process, in a way that respects time and cost restrictions.

This chapter describes how to integrate Polyspace verification into your software development cycle. It explains both how to use Polyspace verification in your current development process, and how to change your process to get more out of verification.

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Best Practices for Verification Workflow

Polyspace verification can be used throughout the software development cycle. However, to maximize both quality and productivity, the most efficient time to use it is early in the development cycle.

Polyspace Verification in the Development Cycle

Typically, verification is conducted in two stages. First, you verify code as it is written, to check coding rules and quickly identify any obvious defects. Once the code is stable, you verify it again before module/unit testing, with more stringent verification and review criteria.

Using verification early in the development cycle improves both quality and productivity, because it allows you to find and manage defects soon after the code is written. This saves time because each user is familiar with their own code, and can quickly determine why code cannot be proven safe. In addition, defects are cheaper to fix at this stage, since they can be addressed before the code is integrated into a larger system.

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How to Use Polyspace Software

Implementing a Process for Polyspace Verification