The role of inspection in software quality assurance

TLDR

Software complexity leads to many errors, and inspection is the only way to improve quality, but its success depends on a sound, systematic procedure. The study seeks to enhance software reputation by improving quality through systematic inspection. The Workshop on Inspection in Software Engineering (WISE) at CAV ’01 convened researchers, practitioners, and regulators to discuss and refine inspection practices, evidence, tool support, and design considerations.

Abstract

Due to the complexity of the code, software is released with many errors. In response, both software practitioners and software researchers need to improve the reputation of the software. Inspection is the only way to improve the quality of software. Inspection methods can be more effective but success depends on having a sound and systematic procedure for conducting the inspection. The Workshop on Inspection in Software Engineering (WISE), a satellite event of the 2001 Computer Aided Verification (CAV '01) Conference, brought together researchers, practitioners, and regulators in the hope of finding effective approaches to software inspection. The workshop included invited lectures and paper presentations in the form of panel discussions on all aspects of software inspection. Submissions explained how practitioners and researchers were performing inspections, discussed the relevance of inspections, provided evidence of how inspections could be improved through refinement of the inspection process and computer aided tool support and explained how careful design of software could make inspections easier or more effective.