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Exam AZ-400 topic 5 question 17 discussion

Actual exam question from Microsoft's AZ-400

Question #: 17
Topic #: 5

Note: This question is part of a series of questions that present the same scenario. Each question in the series contains a unique solution that might meet the stated goals. Some question sets might have more than one correct solution, while others might not have a correct solution.
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The lead developer at your company reports that adding new application features takes longer than expected due to a large accumulated technical debt.
You need to recommend changes to reduce the accumulated technical debt.
Solution: You recommend increasing the test coverage.
Does this meet the goal?

A. Yes
B. No

Show Suggested Answer

Suggested Answer: B 🗳️

by Mithi at Oct. 26, 2020, 10:21 p.m.

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Beast_Hollow

Highly Voted 3 years, 9 months ago

B is correct, cause just adding test coverages won't reduce the technical debt.

upvoted 38 times

mfawew223

1 year, 2 months ago

We are recommending changes to reduce technical debt. Increasing test coverage doesnt have to solve the problem itself to be a "good" recommendation. I think test coverage is effective if there is large, unmanaged technical debt. It can identify areas that could be improved, complexity reduced, or otherwise streamlined. But that effect will have a diminishing return as the backlog of technical debt is resolved. When the returns have diminished past a certain point, the test coverage can probably be scaled back. Since the scenario presented states that there is a large accumulated technical debt, I believe the answer is Yes for this case.

upvoted 1 times

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samyderlachs

3 years ago

Dave Farley would say sth. else here. Usaly it reduces technical debt cause you start to refactor things. You wouldnt just write tests for bad code.

upvoted 3 times

pj74

2 years, 6 months ago

But the point of tests is they enable you to refactor the code with more confidence... the existing tests don't change as you reduce technical debt, it's the underlying code being tested that is improved. Agree that changing test coverage can be a supporting factor in reducing technical debt, but by itself doesn't reduce technical debt.

upvoted 2 times

zeaimen

1 year, 7 months ago

Typical non sense binary question (tests required to refactor with confidence)

upvoted 1 times

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Mithi

Highly Voted 4 years, 3 months ago

Yes, this can also help. If the test coverage is high , that means you know parts of the code that are not being used at all. This can help you refactor code snippets to see if they are required or not.

upvoted 19 times

Miles19

3 years, 9 months ago

Yes, I believe you're right. By increasing the code coverage on the unit tests, we are making sure that classes and methods are doing what they are supposed to do - meaning this is definitely contributing decreasing the technical debt.

upvoted 4 times

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ArnoudBM

4 years, 2 months ago

And unit testing is an almost required ingredient for checking your refactoring results

upvoted 4 times

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BorisUK2000

Most Recent 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Selected Answer: B

I have been writing software for 35 years and for me the answer can be Yes and No. However, I am going with No here, because the next question has a better answer "You recommend reducing the code complexity."

upvoted 1 times

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arr73

9 months, 2 weeks ago

Selected Answer: A

A is correct. The link below is the reference in Microsoft Learn documentation. It says "One key way to minimize the constant acquisition of technical debt is to use automated testing and assessment." --> more automated testing --> higher test coverage https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/identify-technical-debt/4-introduction-technical-debt

upvoted 4 times

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vsvaid

1 year, 1 month ago

Selected Answer: A

I think yes

upvoted 1 times

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Tyler2023

1 year, 5 months ago

I don't think adding test coverage will help reduce the technical debt. Unit tests and integration tests are only specifications that will make sure no one break the logic of the code

upvoted 1 times

Tyler2023

1 year, 5 months ago

My answer is 50/50 :D, I don't know, it depends after reading other comments, all their reasoning are valid

upvoted 1 times

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yana_b

1 year, 6 months ago

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/test/review-code-coverage-results?view=azure-devops Reviewing the code coverage result helps to identify code path(s) that are not covered by the tests. This information is important to improve the test collateral over time by reducing the test debt.

upvoted 1 times

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renzoku

1 year, 8 months ago

you can get 100% test coverage but your technical debt won't be solved

upvoted 3 times

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Fal991l

1 year, 10 months ago

GPT: Yes, increasing test coverage can help reduce accumulated technical debt [^A^]. By writing more tests to cover more of the codebase, you can improve the quality of the code and make it easier to identify and fix issues. This can help prevent the accumulation of technical debt and make it easier to add new features to the application. So, the correct answer to your question is A. Yes.

upvoted 1 times

catfood

1 year, 7 months ago

you know GPT can be confidently wrong on basic things, I'm not liking all these comments where someone has just pasted AI responses.....

upvoted 6 times

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Hieronimusov

2 years ago

Selected Answer: B

test coverages dont check your coding style, spelling and code duplication. It just checks functionality it check if : var 123urass = true ? 1 : 0; var 123uranus = false ? 0 : 1 Assert 123urass == 123uranus == true oooh cool it passes.

upvoted 6 times

xRiot007

1 year, 7 months ago

Technical debt is not just coding style, but overall design, the performance and functionality of that design and how many issues (code smells, bugs, etc) are in your codebase.

upvoted 1 times

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SayCloud

2 years ago

Selected Answer: A

I think it should be A, Regular and timely testing, process automation, or increased testing coverage help reduce technical debt. https://ardas-it.com/how-to-reduce-technical-debt-best-strategies-for-technical-debt-reduction

upvoted 1 times

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DavidCarp

2 years, 1 month ago

Selected Answer: B

Would consider B as the answer. Not seeing the relationship with test coverage. The more test coverage, means that more of your code is under some control, but that doesn't mean that you are still introducing issues that will be part of technical debt, i.e, code does what is supposed to do, but might fail sooner or later, either do to the deprecation of what is being used,...

upvoted 3 times

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GokhanSenyuz

2 years, 3 months ago

Selected Answer: B

answer clear No

upvoted 3 times

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ehurfheiz

2 years, 4 months ago

Selected Answer: B

I think it doesn't reduce the technical debt

upvoted 3 times

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giuliohome

2 years, 5 months ago

Selected Answer: A

https://www.opkey.com/blog/technical-debt-what-does-it-mean-to-be-in-the-red-with-qa-testing The key contributors in accumulating technical debt in a QA practice include: a lack of test coverage, oversized user stories, short sprints, and cutting corners due to delivery pressures.

upvoted 2 times

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WickedMJ

2 years, 5 months ago

Selected Answer: B

B is correct since reducing code complexity should be the right answer to these technical debt problem

upvoted 3 times

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tempura108

2 years, 5 months ago

Selected Answer: B

Increasing test coverage ensures your UnitTest runs through that block of code.

upvoted 3 times

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