There is a great need to assure and improve the reliability and quality of software. Software inspections were introduced over 30 years ago as an answer for this need and they have inspired a lot of research covering many different kinds of aspects. There is a need for an up-to-date survey revealing the current state and the overall evolution of the most prominent research on the area. This paper presents a comprehensive survey focusing on the most relevant 16 international high-impact scientific publication series. There are 153 articles included in the survey covering both technical and management aspects. The main results include a description of the research trends during 1980-2008 and a description of the main results of the included studies. The description is organized based on a taxonomy of the inspection research as having emerged based on the survey. At general level the surveyed research provides clear evidence that inspections generally benefit software development and quality assurance. There are several proposed theoretical variations for the inspection process but also many empirical studies. Although the conducted research is relatively scattered, proper sciencebased understanding about some of the most studied issues has been achieved. Our main conclusion is that conducting empirical research needs to be continued in order to validate the effects of the different kinds of proposed theoretical constructs in practice. Empirical studies are needed especially in order to better understand the proper implementation and the actual impacts of applying inspections in different kinds of industrial and organizational settings.

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Several studies have reported positive experiences with TestDriven Development (TDD) but the results still diverge. In this study we aim to improve understanding on TDD in educational context. We conducted two experiments on TDD in a master's level university course. The research setting was slightly changed in the second experiment and this paper focuses on comparing the differences between the two rounds. We analyzed the students' perceptions and the difficulties they faced with TDD. The given assignment clearly affected the students' reflections so that the more difficult assignment evoked a richer discussion among the students. Additionally, some insights into teaching TDD are discussed.

Inspection Capability Maturity Model (ICMM) is a new tool for the assessment and improvement of software inspection practices in an organization. This paper presents the first experiences in using ICMM. The model structure and usability is evaluated based on the data collected from eight case organizations. The major findings support the conclusion that ICMM worked well in identifying weaknesses in the current inspection practices. First, the perceived inspection quality in the organizations was compared with the assessment results. Second, the identified weaknesses appear to be related to the problems faced in inspection practices. Finally, the collected experiences provided some useful improvement suggestions for ICMM.

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