Dynamic code analysis

Dynamic program analysis is the analysis of computer software that is performed by executing programs on a real or virtual processor. For dynamic program analysis to be effective, the target program must be executed with sufficient test inputs to produce interesting behavior. Use of software testing measures such as code coverage helps ensure that an adequate slice of the program's set of possible behaviors has been observed. Also, care must be taken to minimize the effect that instrumentation has on the execution (including temporal properties) of the target program. Inadequate testing can lead to catastrophic failures similar to the maiden flight of the Ariane 5 rocket launcher where dynamic execution errors (run time error) resulted in the destruction of the vehicle.

Dynamic analysis is in contrast to static testing. Unit tests, integration tests, system tests and acceptance tests use dynamic testing.

Most performance analysis tools use dynamic program analysis techniques.

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