What does "code coverage" mean in programming?

code coverage is one of the most common terms in software development. This guide explains what it means, how it is used in practice, and why it matters, with real examples from the developer world.

Definition

A metric that measures what percentage of your code is executed by your test suite. High coverage does not guarantee quality: you can have 100% coverage with tests that do not assert anything meaningful. Coverage is a floor, not a ceiling — 0% coverage definitely means untested code.

Example

"Coverage dropped to 74% after the new module was added. Add tests before merging."

Related terms

unit test
integration test
end-to-end test
linter
CI/CD

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