C (Visual Studio ALM Glossary)

  • Article

This glossary defines key terms that are used in the Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Help.

  • CAB
    See change advisory board

  • callgraph analysis
    The graph of method calls and the points in the program that call them. A node would be a method and the link would be the relationship of the other methods that it calls.

  • change advisory board
    A formally constituted group of people representing service delivery and support functions that is responsible for assessing, planning, and authorizing changes to the IT environment. The change advisory board (CAB) is a key component of a formal change management process and is likely to be made up of representatives from all areas within IT and representatives from business units. For projects, this group is responsible for approving or rejecting proposed changes the project will make to the IT environment.

  • change control
    Principles and processes that facilitate the management of change without compromising the quality or integrity of an IT project or solution, through structured procedures for submitting, approving, implementing, and reviewing change requests.

  • change management
    The practice of administering changes with the help of tested methods and techniques in order to avoid new errors and minimize the impact, if any, on the agreed IT service levels in accordance with service level agreements.

  • changeset
    A logical grouping of changes. The purpose of changesets is to group all of the file and work item updates that get delivered with a single check-in action.

  • changeset ID
    A numerical ID that is assigned to a specific changeset.

  • check in
    Place a file or a project in a database for storage.

  • check-in notes
    Comments associated with a changeset that are added during the check-in process by prompting the user for specific data. Check-in notes can be configured to be mandatory by an administrator.

  • check-in test
    A test run by a developer to determine whether his or her code has affected the general stability of the product.

  • check out
    Place a writable copy of a file or a project from a Visual SourceSafe database into a working folder.

  • class diagram
    A visual and static representation of classes and the relationships between them.

  • cloning
    The process by which a new virtual machine is created from an existing virtual machine. The new virtual machine has the same identity as the source machine.

  • code analysis
    Checking code for conformance to design guidelines. Code analysis goes beyond compilation to look for common coding and design errors determined by a set of guidelines.

  • code complete
    A development milestone marking the point at which all features for the release are implemented and functionality has been verified against the functional specification.

  • code coverage
    (1) A technology that includes adding instructions to an existing assembly or artifact and that enables Visual Studio to monitor the code paths that are touched by a test. (2) for MSF Agile: A metric used to describe the degree to which the source code of a program has been tested. Code coverage is expressed as a percentage of the blocks of code tested over the total blocks of code.

  • code freeze
    A point at which a technical project document (requirements specification, functional specification, etc.) or developed component of the solution cannot change without significant justification and approval by key project stakeholders.

  • code review
    Assessing code to improve its quality and the capabilities of the development team. Types of code review include formal review, peer-based review, and third-party review.

  • coded Web test
    A type of test that is typically created by converting an existing, recorded Web test into C# or Visual Basic code.

  • coded UI test
    An automated test of the user interface of an application. A coded UI test exercises user actions and validates the expected results.

  • collection probes
    Functions that collect timing and other performance data in an instrumented module.

  • column options
    A dialog for specifying columns and sort order to display in a result list.

  • command
    An instruction to a computer program that, when issued by the user, causes an action to be carried out. Commands are usually either typed at the keyboard or chosen from a menu.

  • common script
    In database unit testing, one of the following scripts: TestInitialize or TestCleanup. Common scripts do not run as part of a database unit test. Instead, they run before and after tests and test runs to modify the test environment, which includes the database that is being tested.

  • Common Structure Services
    The mechanism in Team Foundation for describing a feature hierarchy.

  • composed environment
    A virtual environment created from virtual machines that were created outside of Microsoft Test Manager and are already deployed on a host group.

  • conceptual design
    A major stage in the design process, through which the project team translates the business requirements into a common language to be shared by users and developers, and describes the feature set and/or usage scenarios that the solution must encompass. Conceptual design is analogous to the rough sketches and scenarios created when designing a house. These are easily understood models jointly created by the customer and the architect.

  • configuration management
    The process of identifying and defining configuration items in a system, recording and reporting the status of configuration items and requests for change, and verifying the completeness and correctness of configuration items.

  • configuration variable
    A variable that specifies a testing requirement, such as a hardware or software requirement. Each configuration variable has a set of allowable values associated with it. 

  • constraint
    A logical condition over a section of model. Each constraint is embodied by a validation method that is implemented on a domain class in your model.

  • contingency plan
    A plan for addressing recognized risks that may arise during the course of a project. The plan identifies alternative strategies to be used to ensure project success if specified risk events occur.

  • costed
    An estimate or cost has been provided.

  • counter set
    A set of system performance counters that are useful to monitor during a load test. Counter sets are organized by technology, for example, ASP.NET or SQL counter sets.

  • counter set map
    An association between a counter set and a computer used during a load test. For example, a Web server might have ASP.NET, IIS, and .NET application counter set mappings.

  • counter threshold
    Alerts that can be set on a particular counter to notify you of system resource usage during a load test run. There are two types of thresholds: warning and critical. Counter set definitions contain predefined thresholds for many key performance indicators.

  • coverage collection
    Information collected at run time about which blocks or lines of an application are executed at least once.

  • critical path
    The series of activities that determines the duration of the project. In a deterministic model, the critical path is usually defined as those activities with float less than or equal to a specified value, often zero. It is the longest path through the project.

  • customer
    An individual who expects to gain a business value from the solution. Also, the recipient of a service or product.