What is a software inspection?

What's the difference between a code walkthrough, code review, and code inspection?

What are the elements of an inspection process?

• explicit entry and exit criteria
• individual preparation by inspectors
• defined roles of moderator, reader, producer, and recorder
• training for moderators
• use of a checklist
• limitation of discussion to identification and classification of defects, not solving problems.
• requires successful completion of rework is necessary to complete the inspection
• formal data collection, reporting, and analysis

Required Readings

• Read McConnell's Software Project Survival Guide p130 - 133.
• Braude text Ch 1 p41-44
• Using Formal Inspections in Software Quality Assurance (By Fan, Lacy, & Fang)
This is a very nice hypertext tutorial written by students about how to do formal inspections.

• How to Conduct an Informal Code Inspection (By Baldwin)
A one page How-To for students in software engineering courses. Note this is an informal process.

Suggested Readings

• Improving Quality Through Software Inspections by Karl E. Wiegers
  
• Code Inspection at Linea Engineering
This is a short, concise summary of the purpose and benefits of inspections, and a brief "script" for how to do it.

• The Case for Code Reviews
A nice explanation of why we should bother with code reviews from a real practitioner who has been there.

• Software Formal Inspections at NASA (pdf)
Perform inspections like Nasa does by following their guidebook.

The Inspection Process