Using software tools and metrics to produce better quality test software

Automatic test equipment (ATE) software is often written by test equipment engineers without professional software training. This may lead to poor designs and an excessive number of defects. The Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Corona Division, as the US Navy\´s recognized authority on test equipment assessment, has reviewed a large number of test software programs. As an aid in the review process, various software tools have been used such as PC-lint^™ or Understand for C++^™. This paper focus on software tools for C compilers since C is the most error prone language in use today. The McCabe cyclomatic complexity metric and the Halstead complexity measures are just two of the ways to measure "software quality". Applying the best practices of industry including coding standards, software tools, configuration management and other practices produce better quality code in less time. Good quality code would also be easier to write, understand, maintain and upgrade.