Paper 4 · Question 23

A: Fixed sequential pipelines are best for predictable, structured tasks. Adding tests to a legacy codebase with unclear dependencies is an open-ended investigation that requires adaptive exploration to discover which areas are most critical and how dependencies affect test design.

B: A single-pass analysis of a large codebase would suffer from attention dilution, producing inconsistent coverage. Additionally, a single pass cannot adapt to discoveries about dependencies and critical areas that emerge during exploration.

C: Adding tests to a legacy codebase with unknown dependencies is an open-ended investigation task. Dynamic adaptive decomposition generates subtasks based on what is discovered at each step — first mapping the structure, then identifying critical areas, then adapting the test plan as dependency relationships emerge.

D: Multi-pass architecture solves attention dilution for review tasks, but test generation in a legacy codebase needs adaptive exploration: discovering critical modules and dependencies and prioritising coverage. The decomposition must adapt to findings, not follow a fixed per-file pattern.