Comments on: What is Defect Density in Testing? Formula with Example

By: Stuart

Stuart — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 07:24:29 +0000

Good technique but would certainly be improved by considering severity as others have pointed out.
This would be easily achieved by using a multiplier to convert number of defects into an impact measure, eg x10 for Critical, x5 for medium and x1 for minor/cosmetic.

By: Ankush Jain

Ankush Jain — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 04:22:26 +0000

If there is any setup changes in system and no new code written then how to calculate the defect density?

By: Shamz

Shamz — Fri, 17 May 2024 05:45:09 +0000

Need acceptable defect density per story point?

By: David

David — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 23:07:43 +0000

“An application with DD 5 per KLOC is of better quality vs. another one with 15 per KLOC.”

That does not mean it’s of better quality. It may, but it may not. If two applications do the exact same thing, and the second one has 6 times as much code but only twice the number of defects, I’d argue strongly that was not a reason for the second one being better quality.

My example above is obviously a ridiculous one, but judging the quality of what dev teams produce by defects per KLOC creates a perverse incentive for them to write more KLOCs to do the same thing!

By: Leo

Leo — Sun, 12 Nov 2023 03:13:24 +0000

Is it the open defects at the point of measure that is tracked, or the open+resolved ones for a period of time? I keep getting confused and there is no clear statement on which one is the correct way of counting the defects.

By: Viru

Viru — Sun, 09 Jul 2023 19:54:21 +0000

Thanks for the details. How do you calculate defect density in object-oriented languages like C# or JAVA?

By: Adeeb Cheulkar

Adeeb Cheulkar — Sat, 03 Jun 2023 22:27:23 +0000

How Defect Density can be rated as Excellent, Good, Fair and Poor?
Depending upon the factor like if DD is ‘zero’ then rating is excellent, if DD is 0.1 to 0.2 then rating is good, etc.

By: Christina

Christina — Sun, 07 May 2023 09:12:27 +0000

Total no. of defects/KLOC = 30/15 = 0.5 = Density is 1 Defect for every 2 KLOC. — is this correct? I thought it would be, 2 defects for every 1 KLOC.

By: Z

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 09:03:00 +0000

In reply to Gregor H.

defects/coding hours? I like measuring everything off time because it can be easily converted to money or cost.

Although “hours of code” is similar to “lines of code” in that they both assume more (lines/hours) equals higher complexity. Maybe depends on which assumption you’re most comfortable with? Or measure both?

By: Jafar

Jafar — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 14:07:47 +0000

Thanks for posting this. This is really wonderful. Please do post about other metrics as well.

By: Prashant

Prashant — Wed, 07 Dec 2022 00:36:20 +0000

Great Article on defect density….just one point from my experience we can use it for future predictions as well assuming we don’t change drastically e.g. developers are same their coding style is same so they will keep producing the same amount of defect/kloc..testers are same using the same process so they will find similar no of defects. So in some sense DD can be predictable as well unless we make changes like improved unit testing/better code reviews to make code quality better( and eventually less DD)

Also lower the density doesn’t necessarily mean its better …it can also mean not enough testing is done.

By: Rishi Kapoor

Rishi Kapoor — Sun, 20 Nov 2022 22:37:22 +0000

Nicely written Defect Density is the key metric that should be given it’s due importance to see where a team/group stands in terms of Quality of Product/Application under test . I agree while calculating DD one should also consider the Complexity of Defect and also the technology of the application under Test as we might have different acceptable level of DD for applications based on different technologies .

By: Gaurav Khurana

Gaurav Khurana — Sun, 06 Nov 2022 09:09:19 +0000

Yes i think defect density is important but it should be combined with checking the complexity also.

1 critical defect carries more value than 10 minor ones.

By: Gregor H

Gregor H — Sat, 02 Jul 2022 03:57:29 +0000

Coming in a little late here. I started floating the idea of this metric around our dept and getting mixed results. The significant pushback is coming up with how to measure code complexity. Some platforms have lines of code, but others are done in Java or other platforms with function points. Any insights how to calculate defect density for platforms that do not have traditional lines of code?

By: bruce

bruce — Tue, 10 May 2022 13:45:02 +0000

I am wondering what to do about a large code base.

Say I have 100k LOC from 1 to 10 years old.
Now I am add 10 kLOC of features and enhancements

I find 1000 defects, some of which are against the older code base…

What is the numerator?
What is the denominator?

By: Krishnamurthy

Krishnamurthy — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 22:06:44 +0000

Thanks for the information about defect density

I calculated the defect density with reference to testing

Test Defect Density – No of valid defects reported/No of TCs executed ( Instead of KLOC)

By: CJM

CJM — Sun, 26 Dec 2021 13:35:25 +0000

In reply to ketu.

Calculation error: 30/15 = 2 (2 defect per KLOC)

By: Soumen

Soumen — Fri, 24 Dec 2021 04:46:21 +0000

What is the industry standard for delivered defect density (DDD)?

By: mugdha

mugdha — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 10:32:26 +0000

Hi – thanks for the information. QUick question though – Our Product is in production from last 1 year and we are making enhancements in 7 modules. We follow Sprint cycle of 15 days . How should I calculate DD ? KLOC may not be right measure for me !!

By: Swati Seela STH Author

Swati Seela STH Author — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 12:24:42 +0000

@All: Thank you for stopping by. Your comments make our content richer.