SoftwareTesting - benchristel/benchristel.github.io GitHub Wiki

Testing is the art of learning about a piece of software by running it to see what it does.

Software testing has four main branches, divided along two axes:

	Manual	Automated
Formal	Traditional QA	"tests"
Informal	Poking around the UI,ExploratoryTesting,GAKTest	test scripts

A [FormalTest]] specifies the expected output of the [[SystemUnderTest]] and unambiguously signals pass/fail. An InformalTest relies on human observation and judgement to determine if the software's [[Behavior]] is [Acceptable.

Other ways of categorizing testing practices include:

By Goal

• ExploratoryTesting
• RegressionTesting
• TestDrivenDevelopment

By Interface

• UnitTesting
• SystemTesting
• IntegratedTesting

By Type of Requirement Verified

• FunctionalTesting
• IntegrationTesting
• PerformanceTesting
• LoadTesting
• StressTesting
• PenetrationTesting
• MigrationTesting
• RecoveryTesting
• ContractTesting
• ScreamTest

By Verification Strategy

• StateBasedVerification
• MessageBasedVerification
• PropertyBasedTesting

By Technique

• DetroitTDD
• LondonTDD

Criticism

Dijkstra observed,

program testing can be quite effective for showing the presence of bugs, but is hopelessly inadequate for showing their absence!

Jim Coplien has been a vocal detractor of unit testing and test-driven development. I find that many of his critiques are true of TDD and unit testing as I frequently see them practiced, but are not inherent to these techniques. Rather, the problems with testing arise because [Practitioner]]s are forced to apply certain techniques without prerequisite knowledge or the support of [[Management]] (who often don't hold the [Values that these Techniques are designed to support).