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I'm studying for an exam on software testing and in my notes I found this:

Many more paths than branches. A pragmatic compromise will be needed

I cannot understand the difference between paths and branches; each time I work out the paths and branches of a graph I end up with the same number. Thanks!

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I do not know the exact definitions used by your class, so I am saying this with caution. A branch normally correspnds to a graph edge that allows control to pass from one node to another in the graph. A path is a succession of edges connected to each other, with possible repetition and representing the successive parts traversed by the control. So a branch will be a element of the program structure, a static entity. The path represent a fragment of computation.

If you say more about what you understood, I may be able to tell you whether it makes sense.

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  • $\begingroup$ Well from what you're saying I think that a branch is a point in a program where execution can take two or more different paths such as an if-then-else statement, with a path being the flow of execution taken if that particular condition is met. I also have written that a path is "a sequence of branches". $\endgroup$
    – Jurgen Camilleri
    Commented Jun 3, 2013 at 8:24
  • $\begingroup$ Answer and Comment corrected (I was saying vertex for edge ... sorry) ...Well, I checked a bit, and it seems that some people talk about branch only when the possible flow branches, i.e., can take different edges. Typically this is a conditionnal. Other Use that word also for edges that will just go to another node (corresponding approximately to a goto statement - but that does not seem essential). A path can indeed be defined as a sequence of branches since it defines uniquely a computation fragment, independently of nodes that have several in edges and a single out edge. $\endgroup$
    – babou
    Commented Jun 3, 2013 at 16:55

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