Benefits of code coverage tools

Code coverage tools are beneficial for developers, but it is surrounded by misunderstandings. A requirement for a particular code-coverage percentage, such as 80%, is imposed on teams by well-meaning managers, and sometimes by developers who have not spent the time to understand how it would be valuable.

Here are some real benefits to code coverage tools.

1. Find the code we forgot to test
2. Point out unreachable code due to logical fallacies (for example, a statement to handle a condition when the value is null, but value can never be null)
3. The focus it applies to small bits of code can highlight unexpected issues
4. Can highlight areas of unnecessary complexity - when providing greater coverage for code is overly difficult, a simpler coding approach may enable fuller testing (and be more maintainable).