Why Code Testing Is Crucial

Computing is the way of life. That is the reality of our world today. Everywhere you go, computers run our life, from major industries, companies, offices, and organizations, everything is computerized. Considering how important computing is in our modern life, we need to remain vigilant to ensure that computers use the right codes all the time.

The Internet of Things managed to connect everyone on the web seamlessly. Wherever you are in the world, you can access the same stuff as someone living in other corners of this planet. And considering how gullible people may be at times, they will often believe the first thing they see on the net even without verifying it first or one mistake can cost someone his/ her job, money, life, or something else.

As systems in industrial, automotive, medical, and energy markets that involve human life and limb are connected to the IoT, the stakes get higher and the pressure for safety and reliability increases. While hardware can be physically isolated and protected, once the system is connected to the Internet, it becomes exposed through software, which forms the “soft underbelly” of the IoT. And if they’re not secure, they can’t be considered reliable or safe. That means the battle for safe and secure devices takes place on the field of software.

Producing safe and secure code has a number of dimensions. On one level, code that’s functionally correct—it does what it’s supposed to do—can still contain openings that a hacker can take advantage of. On another level, the code must be functionally safe in that it follows rules to prevent injury or damage, and it must be functionally secure in that it contains mechanisms such as encryption that prevent access.

(Via: http://embedded-computing.com/guest-blogs/testing-is-the-only-way-to-assure-that-code-is-correct/)

Coding testing is a crucial aspect of technology since more and more are at stake every day. Even hospitals rely on technology in saving lives or in carrying out various medical processes – from documentation to actual medical procedures and surgeries.

Ran Yingying, a former state television presenter, is also the wife of Chinese Boxing Association flyweight champion Zou Shiming. Recently, Ran drew attention for posting the test scores of her 6-year-old son’s commercial genetic test, which had come up with a series of figures covering everything from his ability to learn languages to music appreciation, athletic ability, interpersonal skills, and aptitude for mathematics.

“It looks like the son of China’s most successful boxer did not get his father’s sports genes,” Ran wrote, mostly in jest. Her post was forwarded tens of thousands of times, with many commenters saying they want to perform similar tests on themselves or their kids.

Such genetic tests have become so popular that in late 2015, 22 experts in the fields of genomics and sports science published a statement in the British Journal of Sports Medicine saying that no child or young athlete should be subjected to genetic testing to spot athletic talent or boost performance. They concluded that the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of these commercial tests is “simply far too weak to back their use.”

Public demand is running high regardless. With varying levels of scientific support, startups are already offering a wide array of genetic tests, be they screenings for health risks or predictors of personality.

(Via: http://www.sixthtone.com/news/code-and-capital-genetic-testing-china)

Even in a controversial field as genetic testing, computing and coding testing play a major role in making things happen as safely as possible, especially that human lives are at stake.

Risk might be mission critical, such as software on a scientific robot crawling another planet, or risk might be associated with sensitive financial information.

In the first example the integrity of the software is paramount; it is hard to fix something on another planet. In the latter example both quality and security are important, with security perhaps paramount.

There’s also a fundamental difference in how quality and security are each regarded. A quality assurance test at the end of a production cycle will tell you whether a software product is stable enough for release – a simple “Yes” or “No.” Whereas a security test will be vaguer – “It depends” – and in the race to market, that result may be overridden by management. Quality code may not always be secure, but secure code must always be quality code.

(Via: http://www.information-age.com/quality-software-security-123465456/)

There is a lot at stake when it comes to computing nowadays. Coding testing and security is a must because we are not only dealing with sensitive information but the number of people and organizations relying on these systems are far too many now that technology runs the world. A minor error in the coding of these data can prove to be disastrous, so there is just no room for error at all.

The blog post Why Code Testing Is Crucial is republished from https://www.podblaze.com

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