Why Coverage Metrics Fail and System Tests Win

An airhacks.fm conversation with Stanislav Bashkyrtsev about:

discussion about testing terminology and the difference between unit tests,

component tests,

System Tests,

and integration tests,

defining component tests as in-process invocations without HTTP,

using RestAssured with MockMvc-style direct endpoint calls,

avoiding mocks in favor of real system tests,

why code coverage is a misused management metric,

the anti-pattern of using reflection to inflate coverage,

distinguishing line and branch coverage from actual verification,

using coverage from system tests to detect dead code for pruning,