Testing Overview

Overview on Testing

There are many published definitions of software testing, however, all of these definitions essentially convey the same statement:

Software testing is the process of executing software in a controlled manner, in order to answer the question “Does the software comply to specifications”.

Software testing is often used in association with the terms Verification and Validation. Verification is the checking or testing of items, including software, for conformance and consistency with an associated specification. Software testing is one kind of verification, which also uses techniques such as reviews, analysis, inspections and walkthroughs. Validation is the process of checking if what has been specified is what the user actually wanted.

• Validation: Are we building the right product?

• Verification: Are we building the product right?

Software testing should not be confused with debugging. Debugging is the process of analyzing and locating the bugs when software does not behave as expected. Although the identification of some bugs will be obvious from playing with the software, methodical approach to software testing is a much more thorough means of identifying bugs. Debugging is therefore an activity that supports testing, but cannot replace testing. However, no amount of testing can be guaranteed to discover all bugs.

What is testing?

Testing is the process of executing a program with the intent of finding an error. A good test case is one that has a probability of finding an as-yet undiscovered error. A successful test is one that uncovers an as-yet-undiscovered error;

Why testing?

The development of software systems involves a series of production activities where opportunities for injection of human fallibilities are enormous. Errors may begin to occur at the very inception of the process where the requirements may be erroneously or imperfectly specified. Because of human inability to perform and communicate with perfection, software development is accompanied by a quality assurance activity.

Economics of Testing

“Too little testing is a crime - too much testing is a sin”. The risk of under testing is directly translated into system defects present in the production environment. The risk of over testing is the unnecessary use of valuable resources in testing systems that have no defects, or very few defects that the cost of testing far exceeds the value of detecting the system defect.

Most of the problems associated with testing occur from one of the following causes:

• Failure to define testing objectives

• Testing at the wrong phase in the cycle

• Use of ineffective test techniques

Cost of Testing

The cost-effectiveness of testing is illustrated in the above diagram. As the cost of testing increases, number of undetected defects decreases. The left side of the diagram represents the under test situation and the right the after test. In the under test side, cost of testing is less than the resultant loss from undetected defects. At some point, the two lines cross and an overtest condition begins. In this situation, the cost of testing to uncover defects exceeds the losses from those defects. A cost effective perspective means testing until the optimum point is reached, which is the point where the cost of testing no longer exceeds the value received from the defects uncovered.

ALL TESTING FAQs BY MUSHU THE TESTER

Q1. What is verification?
A: Verification ensures the product is designed to deliver all functionality to the customer; it typically involves reviews and meetings to evaluate documents, plans, code, requirements and specifications; this can be done with checklists, issues lists, walkthroughs and inspection meetings. You CAN learn to do verification, with little or no outside help.

Q2. What is validation?
A: Validation ensures that functionality, as defined in requirements, is the intended behavior of the product; validation typically involves actual testing and takes place after verifications are completed.

Q3. What is a walkthrough?
A: A walkthrough is an informal meeting for evaluation or informational purposes. A walkthrough is also a process at an abstract level. It's the process of inspecting software code by following paths through the code (as determined by input conditions and choices made along the way). The purpose of code walkthroughs is to ensure the code fits the purpose. Walkthroughs also offer opportunities to assess an individual or team's competency.

Q4. What is an inspection?
A: An inspection is a formal meeting, more formalized than a walkthrough and typically consists of 3-10 people including a moderator, reader (the author of whatever is being reviewed) and a recorder (to make notes in the document). The subject of the inspection is typically a document, such as a requirements document or a test plan. The purpose of an inspection is to find problems and see what is missing, not to fix anything. The result of the meeting should be documented in a written report. Attendees should prepare for this type of meeting by reading through the document, before the meeting starts; most problems are found during this preparation. Preparation for inspections is difficult, but is one of the most cost-effective methods of ensuring quality, since bug prevention is more cost effective than bug detection.

Q5. What is quality?
A: Quality software is software that is reasonably bug-free, delivered on time and within budget, meets requirements and expectations and is maintainable. However, quality is a subjective term. Quality depends on who the customer is and their overall influence in the scheme of things. Customers of a software development project include end-users, customer acceptance test engineers, testers, customer contract officers, customer management, the development organization's management, test engineers, testers, salespeople, software engineers, stockholders and accountants. Each type of customer will have his or her own slant on quality. The accounting department might define quality in terms of profits, while an end-user might define quality as user friendly and bug free.

Q6. What is good code?
A: A good code is code that works, is free of bugs and is readable and maintainable. Organizations usually have coding standards all developers should adhere to, but every programmer and software engineer has different ideas about what is best and what are too many or too few rules. We need to keep in mind that excessive use of rules can stifle both productivity and creativity. Peer reviews and code analysis tools can be used to check for problems and enforce standards.

Q7. What is good design?
A: Design could mean too many things, but often refers to functional design or internal design. Good functional design is indicated by software functionality can be traced back to customer and end-user requirements. Good internal design is indicated by software code whose overall structure is clear, understandable, easily modifiable and maintainable; is robust with sufficient error handling and status logging capability; and works correctly when implemented.

Q8. What is software life cycle?
A: Software life cycle begins when a software product is first conceived and ends when it is no longer in use. It includes phases like initial concept, requirements analysis, functional design, internal design, documentation planning, test planning, coding, document preparation, integration, testing, maintenance, updates, re-testing and phase-out.

Q9. Why are there so many software bugs?
A: Generally speaking, there are bugs in software because of unclear requirements, software complexity, programming errors, changes in requirements, errors made in bug tracking, time pressure, poorly documented code and/or bugs in tools used in software development.

a. There are unclear software requirements because there is miscommunication as to what the software should or shouldn't do.

b. Software complexity: All of the followings contribute to the exponential growth in software and system complexity: Windows interfaces, client-server and distributed applications, data communications, enormous relational databases and the sheer size of applications.

c. Programming errors occur because programmers and software engineers, like everyone else, can make mistakes.
d. As to changing requirements, in some fast-changing business environments, continuously modified requirements are a fact of life. Sometimes customers do not understand the effects of changes, or understand them but request them anyway. And the changes require redesign of the software, rescheduling of resources and some of the work already completed have to be redone or discarded and hardware requirements can be effected, too.

e. Bug tracking can result in errors because the complexity of keeping track of changes can result in errors, too.

f. Time pressures can cause problems, because scheduling of software projects is not easy and it often requires a lot of guesswork and when deadlines loom and the crunch comes, mistakes will be made.

g. Code documentation is tough to maintain and it is also tough to modify code that is poorly documented. The result is bugs. Sometimes there is no incentive for programmers and software engineers to document their code and write clearly documented, understandable code. Sometimes developers get kudos for quickly turning out code or programmers and software engineers feel they cannot have job security if everyone can understand the code they write, or they believe if the code was hard to write, it should be hard to read.

h. Software development tools, including visual tools, class libraries, compilers, scripting tools, can introduce their own bugs. Other times the tools are poorly documented, which can create additional bugs.

Q10. How do you introduce a new software QA process?
A: It depends on the size of the organization and the risks involved. For large organizations with high-risk projects, a serious management buy-in is required and a formalized QA process is necessary. For medium size organizations with lower risk projects, management and organizational buy-in and a slower, step-by-step process is required. Generally speaking, QA processes should be balanced with productivity, in order to keep any bureaucracy from getting out of hand. For smaller groups or projects, an ad-hoc process is more appropriate. A lot depends on team leads and managers, feedback to developers and good communication is essential among customers, managers, developers, test engineers and testers. Regardless the size of the company, the greatest value for effort is in managing requirement processes, where the goal is requirements that are clear, complete and testable.

Q11. Give me five common problems that occur during software development.
A: Poorly written requirements, unrealistic schedules, inadequate testing, adding new features after development is underway and poor communication. Requirements are poorly written when requirements are unclear, incomplete, too general, or not testable; therefore there will be problems. The schedule is unrealistic if too much work is crammed in too little time. Software testing is inadequate if none knows whether or not the software is any good until customers complain or the system crashes. It's extremely common that new features are added after development is underway. Miscommunication either means the developers don't know what is needed, or customers have unrealistic expectations and therefore problems are guaranteed.

Q12. Do automated testing tools make testing easier?
A: Yes and no. For larger projects, or ongoing long-term projects, they can be valuable. But for small projects, the time needed to learn and implement them is usually not worthwhile. A common type of automated tool is the record/playback type. For example, a test engineer clicks through all combinations of menu choices, dialog box choices, buttons, etc. in a GUI and has an automated testing tool record and log the results. The recording is typically in the form of text, based on a scripting language that the testing tool can interpret. If a change is made (e.g. new buttons are added, or some underlying code in the application is changed), the application is then re-tested by just playing back the recorded actions and compared to the logged results in order to check effects of the change. One problem with such tools is that if there are continual changes to the product being tested, the recordings have to be changed so often that it becomes a very time-consuming task to continuously update the scripts. Another problem with such tools is the interpretation of the results (screens, data, logs, etc.) that can be a time-consuming task. You CAN learn to use automated testing tools, with little or no outside help.

Q13. Give me five solutions to problems that occur during software development.
A: Solid requirements, realistic schedules, adequate testing, firm requirements and good communication. Ensure the requirements are solid, clear, complete, detailed, cohesive, attainable and testable. All players should agree to requirements. Use prototypes to help nail down requirements. Have schedules that are realistic. Allow adequate time for planning, design, testing, bug fixing, re-testing, changes and documentation. Personnel should be able to complete the project without burning out. Do testing that is adequate. Start testing early on, re-test after fixes or changes, and plan for sufficient time for both testing and bug fixing. Avoid new features. Stick to initial requirements as much as possible. Be prepared to defend design against changes and additions, once development has begun and be prepared to explain consequences. If changes are necessary, ensure they're adequately reflected in related schedule changes. Use prototypes early on so customers' expectations are clarified and customers can see what to expect; this will minimize changes later on. Communicate. Require walkthroughs and inspections when appropriate; make extensive use of e-mail, networked bug-tracking tools, tools of change management. Ensure documentation is available and up-to-date. Use documentation that is electronic, not paper. Promote teamwork and cooperation.

Q14. What makes a good test engineer?
A: Rob Davis is a good test engineer because he Has a "test to break" attitude, Takes the point of view of the customer, Has a strong desire for quality, Has an attention to detail, He's also Tactful and diplomatic and Has good a communication skill, both oral and written. And he Has previous software development experience, too. Good test engineers have a "test to break" attitude. We, good test engineers, take the point of view of the customer; have a strong desire for quality and an attention to detail. Tact and diplomacy are useful in maintaining a cooperative relationship with developers and an ability to communicate with both technical and non-technical people. Previous software development experience is also helpful as it provides a deeper understanding of the software development process gives the test engineer an appreciation for the developers' point of view and reduces the learning curve in automated test tool programming.

Q15. What makes a good QA engineer?
A: The same qualities a good test engineer has are useful for a QA engineer. Additionally, Rob Davis understands the entire software development process and how it fits into the business approach and the goals of the organization. Rob Davis' communication skills and the ability to understand various sides of issues are important. Good QA engineers understand the entire software development process and how it fits into the business approach and the goals of the organization. Communication skills and the ability to understand various sides of issues are important.

Q16. What makes a good QA/Test Manager?
A: QA/Test Managers are familiar with the software development process; able to maintain enthusiasm of their team and promote a positive atmosphere; able to promote teamwork to increase productivity; able to promote cooperation between Software and Test/QA Engineers, have the people skills needed to promote improvements in QA processes, have the ability to withstand pressures and say *no* to other managers when quality is insufficient or QA processes are not being adhered to; able to communicate with technical and non-technical people; as well as able to run meetings and keep them focused.

Q17. What is the role of documentation in QA?
A: Documentation plays a critical role in QA. QA practices should be documented, so that they are repeatable. Specifications, designs, business rules, inspection reports, configurations, code changes, test plans, test cases, bug reports, user manuals should all be documented. Ideally, there should be a system for easily finding and obtaining of documents and determining what document will have a particular piece of information. Use documentation change management, if possible.

Q18. What about requirements?
A: Requirement specifications are important and one of the reasons for having problems in a complex software project is to have poorly documented requirement specifications. Requirements are the details describing an application's externally perceived functionality and properties. Requirements should be clear, complete, reasonably detailed, cohesive, attainable and testable. A non-testable requirement would be, for example, "user-friendly", which is too subjective. A testable requirement would be something such as, "the product shall allow the user to enter their previously-assigned password to access the application". Care should be taken to involve all of a project's significant customers in the requirements process. Customers could be in-house or external and could include end-users, customer acceptance test engineers, testers, customer contract officers, customer management, future software maintenance engineers, salespeople and anyone who could later derail the project. If his/her expectations aren't met, they should be included as a customer, if possible. In some organizations, requirements may end up in high-level project plans, functional specification documents, design documents, or other documents at various levels of detail. No matter what they are called, some type of documentation with detailed requirements will be needed by test engineers in order to properly plan and execute tests. Without such documentation there will be no clear-cut way to determine if a software application is performing correctly.

Q19. What is a test plan? What did u include in a Test plan?
A: A software project test plan is a document that describes the objectives, scope, approach and focus of a software testing effort. The process of preparing a test plan is a useful way to think through the efforts needed to validate the acceptability of a software product. The completed document will help people outside the test group understand the why and how of product validation. It should be thorough enough to be useful, but not so thorough that none outside the test group will be able to read it. Introduction Description of the document. Place of the product with in the product life cycle. Purpose, audience & scope of the document. Related documents. Document revision history. Background information Testing strategy. - Features to be tested. Testing approach and objectives. Test software & environment. Assumption and feasibility analysis. Testing methodology Types of Tests. Open Issues.

Q20. What is a test case?
A: A test case is a document that describes an input, action, or event and its expected result, in order to determine if a feature of an application is working correctly. A test case should contain particulars such as a... Test case identifier; Test case name; Objective; Test conditions/setup; Input data requirements/steps, and Expected results. Please note, the process of developing test cases can help find problems in the requirements or design of an application, since it requires you to completely think through the operation of the application. For this reason, it is useful to prepare test cases early in the development cycle, if possible.

Q21. What should be done after a bug is found?
A: When a bug is found, it needs to be communicated and assigned to developers that can fix it. After the problem is resolved, fixes should be re-tested. Additionally, determinations should be made regarding requirements, software, hardware, safety impact, etc., for regression testing to check the fixes didn't create other problems elsewhere. If a problem-tracking system is in place, it should encapsulate these determinations. A variety of commercial, problem-tracking/management software tools are available. These tools, with the detailed input of software test engineers, will give the team complete information so developers can understand the bug, get an idea of its severity, reproduce it and fix it.

Q22. What is configuration management?
A: Configuration management (CM) covers the tools and processes used to control, coordinate and track code, requirements, documentation, problems, change requests, designs, tools, compilers, libraries, patches, changes made to them and who makes the changes. Rob Davis has had experience with a full range of CM tools and concepts. Rob Davis can easily adapt to your software tool and process needs.

Q23. What if the software is so buggy it can't be tested at all?
A: In this situation the best bet is to have test engineers go through the process of reporting whatever bugs or problems initially show up, with the focus being on critical bugs. Since this type of problem can severely affect schedules and indicates deeper problems in the software development process, such as insufficient unit testing, insufficient integration testing, poor design, improper build or release procedures, managers should be notified and provided with some documentation as evidence of the problem.

Q24. How do you know when to stop testing?
A: This can be difficult to determine. Many modern software applications are so complex and run in such an interdependent environment, that complete testing can never be done. Common factors in deciding when to stop are... Deadlines, e.g. release deadlines, testing deadlines; Test cases completed with certain percentage passed; Test budget has been depleted; Coverage of code, functionality, or requirements reaches a specified point; Bug rate falls below a certain level; or Beta or alpha testing period ends.

Q25. What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing?
A: Since it's rarely possible to test every possible aspect of an application, every possible combination of events, every dependency, or everything that could go wrong, risk analysis is appropriate to most software development projects. Use risk analysis to determine where testing should be focused. This requires judgment skills, common sense and experience. The checklist should include answers to the following questions:

FAQ2

Q26. What if the project isn't big enough to justify extensive testing?
A: Consider the impact of project errors, not the size of the project. However, if extensive testing is still not justified, risk analysis is again needed and the considerations listed under "What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing?" do apply. The test engineer then should do "ad hoc" testing, or write up a limited test plan based on the risk analysis.

Q27. What can be done if requirements are changing continuously?
A: Work with management early on to understand how requirements might change, so that alternate test plans and strategies can be worked out in advance. It is helpful if the application's initial design allows for some adaptability, so that later changes do not require redoing the application from scratch. Additionally, try to... Ensure the code is well commented and well documented; this makes changes easier for the developers. Use rapid prototyping whenever possible; this will help customers feel sure of their requirements and minimize changes. In the project's initial schedule, allow for some extra time to commensurate with probable changes. Move new requirements to a 'Phase 2' version of an application and use the original requirements for the 'Phase 1' version. Negotiate to allow only easily implemented new requirements into the project; move more difficult, new requirements into future versions of the application. Ensure customers and management understand scheduling impacts, inherent risks and costs of significant requirements changes. Then let management or the customers decide if the changes are warranted; after all, that's their job. Balance the effort put into setting up automated testing with the expected effort required to redo them to deal with changes. Design some flexibility into automated test scripts; Focus initial automated testing on application aspects that are most likely to remain unchanged; Devote appropriate effort to risk analysis of changes, in order to minimize regression-testing needs; Design some flexibility into test cases; this is not easily done; the best bet is to minimize the detail in the test cases, or set up only higher-level generic-type test plans; Focus less on detailed test plans and test cases and more on ad-hoc testing with an understanding of the added risk this entails.

Q28. What if the application has functionality that wasn't in the requirements?
A: It may take serious effort to determine if an application has significant unexpected or hidden functionality, which it would indicate deeper problems in the software development process. If the functionality isn't necessary to the purpose of the application, it should be removed, as it may have unknown impacts or dependencies that were not taken into account by the designer or the customer. If not removed, design information will be needed to determine added testing needs or regression testing needs. Management should be made aware of any significant added risks as a result of the unexpected functionality. If the functionality only affects areas, such as minor improvements in the user interface, it may not be a significant risk.

Q29. How can software QA processes be implemented without stifling productivity?
A: Implement QA processes slowly over time. Use consensus to reach agreement on processes and adjust and experiment as an organization grows and matures. Productivity will be improved instead of stifled. Problem prevention will lessen the need for problem detection. Panics and burnout will decrease and there will be improved focus and less wasted effort. At the same time, attempts should be made to keep processes simple and efficient, minimize paperwork, promote computer-based processes and automated tracking and reporting, minimize time required in meetings and promote training as part of the QA process. However, no one, especially talented technical types, like bureaucracy and in the short run things may slow down a bit. A typical scenario would be that more days of planning and development will be needed, but less time will be required for late-night bug fixing and calming of irate customers.

Q30. How is testing affected by object-oriented designs?
A: A well-engineered object-oriented design can make it easier to trace from code to internal design to functional design to requirements. While there will be little affect on black box testing (where an understanding of the internal design of the application is unnecessary), white-box testing can be oriented to the application's objects. If the application was well designed this can simplify test design.

Q31. Why do you recommended that we test during the design phase?
A: Because testing during the design phase can prevent defects later on. We recommend verifying three things...

Verify the design is good, efficient, compact, testable and maintainable.
Verify the design meets the requirements and is complete (specifies all relationships between modules, how to pass data, what happens in exceptional circumstances, starting state of each module and how to guarantee the state of each module).
Verify the design incorporates enough memory, I/O devices and quick enough runtime for the final product.

Q32. What is software quality assurance?
A: Software Quality Assurance is oriented to *prevention*. It involves the entire software development process. Prevention is monitoring and improving the process, making sure any agreed-upon standards and procedures are followed and ensuring problems are found and dealt with. Software Testing, when performed by Rob Davis, is also oriented to *detection*. Testing involves the operation of a system or application under controlled conditions and evaluating the results. Organizations vary considerably in how they assign responsibility for QA and testing. Sometimes they're the combined responsibility of one group or individual. Also common are project teams, which include a mix of test engineers, testers and developers who work closely together, with overall QA processes monitored by project managers. It depends on what best fits your organization's size and business structure. QA consists of the editing and reporting functions of management .The goal of QA is to provide management with the data necessary to be informed about product quality, there by gaining insight and confidence that product quality is meeting its goals.

Q33. What is quality assurance?
A: Quality Assurance ensures all parties concerned with the project adhere to the process and procedures, standards and templates and test readiness reviews. Rob Davis' QA service depends on the customers and projects. A lot will depend on team leads or managers, feedback to developers and communications among customers, managers, developers' test engineers and testers.

Q34. Process and procedures - why follow them?
A: Detailed and well-written processes and procedures ensure the correct steps are being executed to facilitate a successful completion of a task. They also ensure a process is repeatable. Once Rob Davis has learned and reviewed customer's business processes and procedures, he will follow them. He will also recommend improvements and/or additions.

Q35. Standards and templates - what is supposed to be in a document?
A: All documents should be written to a certain standard and template. Standards and templates maintain document uniformity. It also helps in learning where information is located, making it easier for a user to find what they want. Lastly, with standards and templates, information will not be accidentally omitted from a document. Once Rob Davis has learned and reviewed your standards and templates, he will use them. He will also recommend improvements and/or additions.

Q36. What are the different levels of testing?
A: Rob Davis has expertise in testing at all testing levels listed below. At each test level, he documents the results. Each level of testing is either considered black or white box testing.

Q37. What is black box testing?
A: Black box testing is functional testing, not based on any knowledge of internal software design or code. Black box testing are based on requirements and functionality. Black box testing a type of testing that considers only externally visible behavior. Black box testing considers neither the code itself, nor the "inner workings" of the software.

Q38. What is white box testing?
A: White box testing is based on knowledge of the internal logic of an application's code. Tests are based on coverage of code statements, branches, paths and conditions.

Q39. What is unit testing?
A: Unit testing is the first level of dynamic testing and is first the responsibility of developers and then that of the test engineers. Unit testing is performed after the expected test results are met or differences are explainable/acceptable.

Q40. What is parallel/audit testing?
A: Parallel/audit testing is testing where the user reconciles the output of the new system to the output of the current system to verify the new system performs the operations correctly.

Q41. What is functional testing?
A: Functional testing is black-box type of testing geared to functional requirements of an application. Test engineers *should* perform functional testing. Black box testing considers neither the code itself, nor the "inner workings" of the software.

Q42. What is usability testing?
A: Usability testing is testing for 'user-friendliness'. Clearly this is subjective and depends on the targeted end-user or customer. User interviews, surveys, video recording of user sessions and other techniques can be used. Programmers and developers are usually not appropriate as usability testers.

Q43. What is incremental integration testing?
A: Incremental integration testing is continuous testing of an application as new functionality is recommended. This may require that various aspects of an application's functionality are independent enough to work separately, before all parts of the program are completed, or that test drivers are developed as needed. Programmers, software engineers, or test engineers may perform this type of testing.

Q44. What is integration testing?
A: Upon completion of unit testing, integration testing begins. Integration testing is black box testing. The purpose of integration testing is to ensure distinct components of the application still work in accordance to customer requirements. Test cases are developed with the express purpose of exercising the interfaces between the components. The test team carries out this activity. Integration testing is considered complete, when actual results and expected results are either in line or differences are explainable/acceptable based on client input. Testing performed to expose faults in the interfaces and in the interaction between integrated components. Integration is a systematic approach to build the complete software structure specified in the design form unit-tested modules. There are two ways integration performed. It is called pre-test and pro-test. Pre-Test: The testing performed in module development area is called pre-test. The pre-test is required only if the development is done in module development area. Pro-Test: The integration test performed in base line is called pro-test. The development of a release will be scheduled such that the customer can break down into smaller internal release.

Q45. What is system testing?
A: System testing is black box testing, performed by the Test Team, and at the start of the system testing the complete system is configured in a controlled environment. The purpose of system testing is to validate an application's accuracy and completeness in performing the functions as designed. System testing simulates real life scenarios that occur in a "simulated real life" test environment and test all functions of the system that are required in real life. System testing is deemed complete when actual results and expected results are either in line or differences are explainable or acceptable, based on client input. Upon completion of integration testing, system testing is started. Before system testing, all unit and integration test results are reviewed by Software QA to ensure all problems have been resolved. For a higher level of testing it is important to understand unresolved problems that originate at unit and integration test levels. You CAN learn system testing, with little or no outside help. Get CAN get free information. Click on a link!

Q46. What is end-to-end testing?
A: Similar to system testing, the *macro* end of the test scale is testing a complete application in a situation that mimics real world use, such as interacting with a database, using network communication, or interacting with other hardware, application, or system.

Q47. What is regression testing?
A: The objective of regression testing is to ensure the software remains intact. A baseline set of data and scripts is maintained and executed to verify changes introduced during the release have not "undone" any previous code. Expected results from the baseline are compared to results of the software under test. All discrepancies are highlighted and accounted for, before testing proceeds to the next level. The objective of regression testing is to test that the fixes have not created any other problems elsewhere. In other words, the objective is to ensure the software has remained intact. A baseline set of data and scripts are maintained and executed, to verify that changes introduced during the release have not "undone" any previous code.

Q48. What is sanity testing?
A: Sanity testing is performed whenever cursory testing is sufficient to prove the application is functioning according to specifications. This level of testing is a subset of regression testing. It normally includes a set of core tests of basic GUI functionality to demonstrate connectivity to the database, application servers, printers, etc.

Q49. What is performance testing?
A: Although performance testing is described as a part of system testing, it can be regarded as a distinct level of testing. Performance testing verifies loads, volumes and response times, as defined by requirements.

Q50. What is load testing?
A: Load testing is testing an application under heavy loads, such as the testing of a web site under a range of loads to determine at what point the system response time will degrade or fail.

Q51. What is installation testing?
A: Installation testing is testing full, partial, upgrade, or install/uninstall processes. The installation test for a release is conducted with the objective of demonstrating production readiness. This test includes the inventory of configuration items, performed by the application's System Administration, the evaluation of data readiness, and dynamic tests focused on basic system functionality. When necessary, a sanity test is performed, following installation testing.

Q52. What is security/penetration testing?
A: Security/penetration testing is testing how well the system is protected against unauthorized internal or external access, or willful damage. This type of testing usually requires sophisticated testing techniques.

Q53. What is recovery/error testing?
A: Recovery/error testing is testing how well a system recovers from crashes, hardware failures, or other catastrophic problems.

Q54. What is compatibility testing?
A: Compatibility testing is testing how well software performs in a particular hardware, software, operating system, or network environment.

Q55. What is comparison testing?
A: Comparison testing is testing that compares software weaknesses and strengths to those of competitors' products.

Q56. What is acceptance testing?
A: Acceptance testing is black box testing that gives the client/customer/project manager the opportunity to verify the system functionality and usability prior to the system being released to production. The acceptance test is the responsibility of the client/customer or project manager, however, it is conducted with the full support of the project team. The test team also works with the client/customer/project manager to develop the acceptance criteria.

Q57. What is alpha testing?
A: Alpha testing is testing of an application when development is nearing completion. Minor design changes can still be made as a result of alpha testing. Alpha testing is typically performed by end-users or others, not programmers, software engineers, or test engineers. Alpha testing is final testing before the software is released to the general public. First, (and this is called the first phase of alpha testing), the software is tested by in-house developers. They use either debugger software, or hardware-assisted debuggers. The goal is to catch bugs quickly. Then, (and this is called second stage of alpha testing), the software is handed over to us, the software QA staff, for additional testing in an environment that is similar to the intended use.

Q58. What is beta testing?
A: Beta testing is testing an application when development and testing are essentially completed and final bugs and problems need to be found before the final release. Beta testing is typically performed by end-users or others, not programmers, software engineers, or test engineers. Following alpha testing, "beta versions" of the software are released to a group of people, and limited public tests are performed, so that further testing can ensure the product has few bugs. Other times, beta versions are made available to the general public, in order to receive as much feedback as possible. The goal is to benefit the maximum number of future users. Difference between alpha and beta testing: In-house developers and software QA personnel perform alpha testing. The public, a few selected prospective customers, or the general public performs beta testing.

Q59. What testing roles are standard on most testing projects?
A: Depending on the organization, the following roles are more or less standard on most testing projects:

Testers, Test Engineers, Test/QA Team Lead, Test/QA Manager, System Administrator, Database Administrator, Technical Analyst, Test Build Manager and Test Configuration Manager.

Depending on the project, one person may wear more than one hat. For instance, Test Engineers may also wear the hat of Technical Analyst, Test Build Manager and Test Configuration Manager.

Q60. What is a Test/QA Team Lead?
A: The Test/QA Team Lead coordinates the testing activity, communicates testing status to management and manages the test team.

Q61. What is a Test Engineer?
A: Test Engineers are engineers who specialize in testing. We, test engineers, create test cases, procedures, and scripts and generate data. We execute test procedures and scripts, analyze standards of measurements, and evaluate results of system/integration/regression testing. We also...


Speed up the work of the development staff;
Reduce your organization's risk of legal liability;
Give you the evidence that your software is correct and operates properly;
Improve problem tracking and reporting;
Maximize the value of your software;
Maximize the value of the devices that use it;
Assure the successful launch of your product by discovering bugs and design flaws, before users get discouraged, before shareholders loose their cool and before employees get bogged down;
Help the work of your development staff, so the development team can devote its time to build up your product;
Promote continual improvement;
Provide documentation required by FDA, FAA, other regulatory agencies and your customers;
Save money by discovering defects 'early' in the design process, before failures occur in production, or in the field;
Save the reputation of your company by discovering bugs and design flaws; before bugs and design flaws damage the reputation of your company.

Q62. What is a test schedule?
A: The test schedule is a schedule that identifies all tasks required for a successful testing effort, a schedule of all test activities and resource requirements.

Q63. What is software testing methodology?
A: Software testing methodology is a three step process of...
Creating a test strategy;
Creating a test plan/design; and
Executing tests.

This methodology can be used and molded to your organization's needs. Rob Davis believes that using this methodology is important in the development and in ongoing maintenance of his customers' applications.

Q64. What is the general testing process?
A: The general testing process is the creation of a test strategy (which sometimes includes the creation of test cases),
creation of a test plan/design (which usually includes test cases and test procedures) and
the execution of tests.

Q65. What is Test Strategy? How do you create a test strategy?
A: Test strategy contains what are the features to be tested in the application. The test strategy is a formal description of how a software product will be tested. A test strategy is developed for all levels of testing, as required. The test team analyzes the requirements, writes the test strategy and reviews the plan with the project team. The test plan may include test cases, conditions, the test environment, a list of related tasks, pass/fail criteria and risk assessment. Inputs for this process:
A description of the required hardware and software components, including test tools. This information comes from the test environment, including test tool data.
A description of roles and responsibilities of the resources required for the test and schedule constraints. This information comes from man-hours and schedules.
Testing methodology. This is based on known standards.
Functional and technical requirements of the application. This information comes from requirements, change request, technical and functional design documents.
Requirements that the system can not provide, e.g. system limitations.

Outputs for this process:

An approved and signed off test strategy document, test plan, including test cases.
Testing issues requiring resolution. Usually this requires additional negotiation at the project management level.

Q66. How do you create a test plan/design?
A: Test scenarios and/or cases are prepared by reviewing functional requirements of the release and preparing logical groups of functions that can be further broken into test procedures. Test procedures define test conditions, data to be used for testing and expected results, including database updates, file outputs, report results. Generally speaking... Test cases and scenarios are designed to represent both typical and unusual situations that may occur in the application. Test engineers define unit test requirements and unit test cases. Test engineers also execute unit test cases. It is the test team that, with assistance of developers and clients, develops test cases and scenarios for integration and system testing. Test scenarios are executed through the use of test procedures or scripts. Test procedures or scripts define a series of steps necessary to perform one or more test scenarios. Test procedures or scripts include the specific data that will be used for testing the process or transaction. Test procedures or scripts may cover multiple test scenarios. Test scripts are mapped back to the requirements and traceability matrices are used to ensure each test is within scope. Test data is captured and base lined, prior to testing. This data serves as the foundation for unit and system testing and used to exercise system functionality in a controlled environment. Some output data is also base-lined for future comparison. Base-lined data is used to support future application maintenance via regression testing. A pretest meeting is held to assess the readiness of the application and the environment and data to be tested. A test readiness document is created to indicate the status of the entrance criteria of the release. Inputs for this process: Approved Test Strategy Document. Test tools, or automated test tools, if applicable. Previously developed scripts, if applicable. Test documentation problems uncovered as a result of testing. A good understanding of software complexity and module path coverage, derived from general and detailed design documents, e.g. software design document, source code and software complexity data. Outputs for this process: Approved documents of test scenarios, test cases, test conditions and test data. Reports of software design issues, given to software developers for correction.

Q67. How do you execute tests?
A: Following the test documents in a methodical manner completes Execution of tests. As each test procedure is performed, an entry is recorded in a test execution log to note the execution of the procedure and whether or not the test procedure uncovered any defects. Checkpoint meetings are held throughout the execution phase. Checkpoint meetings are held daily, if required, to address and discuss testing issues, status and activities. The output from the execution of test procedures is known as test results. Test engineers to determine whether the expected results have been obtained evaluate test results. All discrepancies/anomalies are logged and discussed with the software team lead, hardware test lead, programmers, software engineers and documented for further investigation and resolution. Every company has a different process for logging and reporting bugs/defects uncovered during testing. A pass/fail criterion is used to determine the severity of a problem, and results are recorded in a test summary report. The severity of a problem, found during system testing, is defined in accordance to the customer's risk assessment and recorded in their selected tracking tool. Proposed fixes are delivered to the testing environment, based on the severity of the problem. Fixes are regression tested and flawless fixes are migrated to a new baseline. Following completion of the test, members of the test team prepare a summary report. The Project Manager, Software QA Manager and/or Test Team Lead review the summary report. After a particular level of testing has been certified, it is the responsibility of the Configuration Manager to coordinate the migration of the release software components to the next test level, as documented in the Configuration Management Plan. The software is only migrated to the production environment after the Project Manager's formal acceptance. The test team reviews test document problems identified during testing, and update documents where appropriate.

Q68. What testing approaches can you tell me about?
A: Each of the followings represents a different testing approach: Black box testing, White box testing, Unit testing, Incremental testing Integration testing, Functional testing, System testing, End-to-end testing Sanity testing, Regression testing, Acceptance testing, Load testing Performance testing, Usability testing, Install/uninstall testing, Recovery testing Security testing, Compatibility testing, Exploratory testing, ad-hoc testing User acceptance testing, Comparison testing, Alpha testing, Beta testing Mutation testing.

Q69. What is stress testing?
A: Stress testing is testing that investigates the behavior of software (and hardware) under extraordinary operating conditions. For example, when a web server is stress tested, testing aims to find out how many users can be on-line, at the same time, without crashing the server. Stress testing tests the stability of a given system or entity. It tests something beyond its normal operational capacity, in order to observe any negative results. For example, a web server is stress tested, using scripts, bots, and various denial of service tools.

Q70. What is load testing?
A: Load testing simulates the expected usage of a software program, by simulating multiple users that access the program's services concurrently. Load testing is most useful and most relevant for multi-user systems, client/server models, including web servers. For example, the load placed on the system is increased above normal usage patterns, in order to test the system's response at peak loads.

Q71. What is the difference between performance testing and load testing?
A: Load testing is a blanket term that is used in many different ways across the professional software testing community. The term, load testing, is often used synonymously with stress testing, performance testing, reliability testing, and volume testing. Load testing generally stops short of stress testing. During stress testing, the load is so great that errors are the expected results, though there is gray area in between stress testing and load testing.

Q72. What is the Reliability testing ?
A: It is the testing effort performed to find the ability of the system/software to perform its required functions under stated conditions for a specified period of time, or for a specified number of operations.

Q73. What is the Volume testing ?
A: The purpose of volume testing is to find weakness in the system with respect to its handling of large amounts of data during short time periods. For example, this kind of testing ensures that the system will process data across disk partitions on one server.

Q74. What is incremental testing?

A: Incremental testing is partial testing of an incomplete product. The goal of incremental testing is to provide an early feedback to software developers.

Q75. What is software testing?
A: Software testing is a process that identifies the correctness, completenes, and quality of software. Actually, testing cannot establish the correctness of software. It can find defects, but cannot prove there are no defects.

Q76. What is clear box testing?
A: Clear box testing is the same as white box testing. It is a testing approach that examines the application's program structure, and derives test cases from the application's program logic.

Q77. What is gamma testing?
A: Gamma testing is testing of software that has all the required features, but it did not go through all the in-house quality checks.

Q78. What is glass box testing?
A: Glass box testing is the same as white box testing. It is a testing approach that examines the application's program structure, and derives test cases from the application's program logic.

Q79. What is open box testing?
A: Open box testing is same as white box testing. It is a testing approach that examines the application's program structure, and derives test cases from the application's program logic.

Q80. What is closed box testing?
A: Closed box testing is same as black box testing. Black box testing a type of testing that considers only externally visible behavior. Black box testing considers neither the code itself, nor the "inner workings" of the software.

Q81. What is bottom-up testing?
A: Bottom-up testing is a technique for integration testing. A test engineer creates and uses test drivers for components that have not yet been developed, because, with bottom-up testing, low-level components are tested first. The objective of bottom-up testing is to call low-level components first, for testing purposes.

Q82 What is software quality?
A: The quality of the software does vary widely from system to system. Some common quality attributes are stability, usability, reliability, portability, and maintainability.

Q83. How do test case templates look like?
A: Software test cases are in a document that describes inputs, actions, or events, and their expected results, in order to determine if all features of an application are working correctly. Test case templates contain all particulars of every test case. Often these templates are in the form of a table. One example of this table is a 6-column table, where column 1 is the "Test Case ID Number", column 2 is the "Test Case Name", column 3 is the "Test Objective", column 4 is the "Test Conditions/Setup", column 5 is the "Input Data Requirements/Steps", and column 6 is the "Expected Results". All documents should be written to a certain standard and template. Standards and templates maintain document uniformity. They also help in learning where information is located, making it easier for users to find what they want. Lastly, with standards and templates, information will not be accidentally omitted from a document.

Q84. What is a software fault?
A: Software faults are hidden programming errors. Software faults are errors in the correctness of the semantics of computer programs.

Q85. What is software failure?
A: A software failure occurs when the software does not do what the user expects to see.

Q86. What is the difference between a software fault and a software failure?
A: A software failure occurs when the software does not do what the user expects to see. A software fault, on the other hand, is a hidden programming error. A software fault becomes a software failure only when the exact computation conditions are met, and the faulty portion of the code is executed on the CPU. This can occur during normal usage. Or, when the software is ported to a different hardware platform. Or, when the software is ported to a different complier. Or, when the software gets extended.

Q87. What is the role of test engineers?
A: Test engineers speed up the work of the development staff, and reduce the risk of your company's legal liability. We, test engineers, also give the company the evidence that the software is correct and operate properly. We also improve problem tracking and reporting, maximize the value of the software, and the value of the devices that use it. We also assure the successful launch of the product by discovering bugs and design flaws, before... users get discouraged, before shareholders loose their cool and before employees get bogged down. We, test engineers help the work of software development staff, so the development team can devote its time to build up the product. We, test engineers also promote continual improvement. They provide documentation required by FDA, FAA, other regulatory agencies, and your customers. We, test engineers save your company money by discovering defects EARLY in the design process, before failures occur in production, or in the field. We save the reputation of your company by discovering bugs and design flaws, before bugs and design flaws damage the reputation of your company.

Q88. What is a QA engineer?
A: QA engineers are test engineers, but QA engineers do more than just testing. Good QA engineers understand the entire software development process and how it fits into the business approach and the goals of the organization. Communication skills and the ability to understand various sides of issues are important. We, QA engineers, are successful if people listen to us, if people use our tests, if people think that we're useful, and if we're happy doing our work. I would love to see QA departments staffed with experienced software developers who coach development teams to write better code. But I've never seen it. Instead of coaching, we, QA engineers, tend to be process people.

Q89. What is role of the QA engineer?
A: The QA Engineer's function is to use the system much like real users would, find all the bugs, find ways to replicate the bugs, submit bug reports to the developers, and to provide feedback to the developers, i.e. tell them if they've achieved the desired level of quality. Roles: - Responsible for coordinating with in team in preparing test plan and other project related documents. Participating in review meetings with QA In-Charge for analyzing the designs, preparation of test plans, test cases design etc. Writing test cases as per specifications and coding standards. Responsible for unit testing of test cases and timely execution of the project. Maintaining project related folders/files as per configurations management plans Participation in internal audits. Effective implementation of corrective and preventive actions. Prompt reporting of any major reworks associated with coding to QA In-Charge. Responsible for attending training programs identified by QA in-Charge from time to time. Participation in peer reviews and compiling with the requirements of ISO-9001.

Q90. What are the responsibilities of a QA engineer?
A: Let's say, an engineer is hired for a small software company's QA role, and there is no QA team. Should he take responsibility to set up a QA infrastructure/process, testing and quality of the entire product? No, because taking this responsibility is a classic trap that QA people get caught in. Why? Because we QA engineers cannot assure quality. And because QA departments cannot create quality. What we CAN do is to detect lack of quality, and prevent low-quality products from going out the door. What is the solution? We need to drop the QA label, and tell the developers, they are responsible for the quality of their own work. The problem is, sometimes, as soon as the developers learn that there is a test department, they will slack off on their testing. We need to offer to help with quality assessment only.

Q91. What metrics are used for bug tracking?
A: Metrics that can be used for bug tracking include: total number of bugs, total number of bugs that have been fixed, number of new bugs per week, and number of fixes per week. Metrics for bug tracking can be used to determine when to stop testing, e.g. when bug rate falls below a certain level.

Q92. What metrics can be used in software development?
A: Metrics refer to statistical process control. The idea of statistical process control is a great one, but it has only a limited use in software development. On the negative side, statistical process control works only with processes that are sufficiently well defined AND unvaried, so that they can be analyzed in terms of statistics. The problem is, most software development projects are NOT sufficiently well defined and NOT sufficiently unvaried. On the positive side, one CAN use statistics. Statistics are excellent tools that project managers can use. Statistics can be used, for example, to determine when to stop testing, i.e. test cases completed with certain percentage passed, or when bug rate falls below a certain level. But, if these are project management tools, why should we label them quality assurance tools?

Q93. What is integration testing?
A: The purpose of integration testing is to determine if the different modules within the system work together and the compatibility of the new system with existing environment and systems. Integration testing is usually performed by developers in conjunction with testers who have programming experience utilizing both white and black-box testing methods. Integration testing is conducted in all environments as the project progresses. The internal complexities of the systems being tested are ignored during the integration test. Instead testing scenarios focus on the interaction of the new system and all related elements such as the network, databases, servers, other applications, and hardware.

Q94. How do you perform integration testing?
A: First, unit testing has to be completed. Upon completion of unit testing, integration testing begins. Integration testing is black box testing. The purpose of integration testing is to ensure distinct components of the application still work in accordance to customer requirements. Test cases are developed with the express purpose of exercising the interfaces between the components. This activity is carried out by the test team. Integration testing is considered complete, when actual results and expected results are either in line or differences are explainable/acceptable based on client input.

Q95. How do test plan templates look like?
A: The test plan document template helps to generate test plan documents that describe the objectives, scope, approach and focus of a software testing effort. Test document templates are often in the form of documents that are divided into sections and subsections. One example of this template is a 4-section document, where section 1 is the description of the "Test Objective", section 2 is the the description of "Scope of Testing", section 3 is the the description of the "Test Approach", and section 4 is the "Focus of the Testing Effort". All documents should be written to a certain standard and template. Standards and templates maintain document uniformity. They also help in learning where information is located, making it easier for a user to find what they want. With standards and templates, information will not be accidentally omitted from a document. A software project test plan is a document that describes the objectives, scope, approach and focus of a software testing effort. The process of preparing a test plan is a useful way to think through the efforts needed to validate the acceptability of a software product. The completed document will help people outside the test group understand the why and how of the product validation.

Q96. What is a "bug life cycle"?
A: Bug life cycles are similar to software development life cycles. At any time during the software development life cycle errors can be made during the gathering of requirements, requirements analysis, functional design, internal design, documentation planning, document preparation, coding, unit testing, test planning, integration testing, maintenance, updates, re-testing and phase-out.

Bug life cycle begins when a programmer, software developer, or architect makes a mistake, creates an unintentional software defect, i.e. a bug, and ends when the bug is fixed, and the bug is no longer in existence.

What should be done after a bug is found?
When a bug is found, it needs to be communicated and assigned to developers that can fix it. After the problem is resolved, fixes should be re-tested. Additionally, determinations should be made regarding requirements, software, hardware, safety impact, etc., for regression testing to check the fixes didn't create other problems elsewhere. If a problem-tracking system is in place, it should encapsulate these determinations. A variety of commercial, problem-tracking/management software tools are available. These tools, with the detailed input of software test engineers, will give the team complete information so developers can understand the bug, get an idea of its severity, reproduce it and fix it.

Q97. When do you choose automated testing?
A: For larger projects, or ongoing long-term projects, automated testing can be valuable. But for small projects, the time needed to learn and implement the automated testing tools is usually not worthwhile. Automated testing tools sometimes do not make testing easier. One problem with automated testing tools is that if there are continual changes to the product being tested, the recordings have to be changed so often, that it becomes a very time-consuming task to continuously update the scripts. Another problem with such tools is the interpretation of the results (screens, data, logs, etc.) that can be a time-consuming task.

Q98. What is the ratio of developers and testers?
A: This ratio is not a fixed one, but depends on what phase of the software development life cycle the project is in. When a product is first conceived, organized, and developed, this ratio tends to be 10:1, 5:1, or 3:1, i.e. heavily in favor of developers. In sharp contrast, when the product is near the end of the software development life cycle, this ratio tends to be 1:1, or even 1:2, in favor of testers.

Q99. What is your role in your current organization?
A: I'm a Software QA Engineer. I use the system much like real users would. I find all the bugs, find ways to replicate the bugs, submit bug reports to developers, and provides feedback to the developers, i.e. tell them if they've achieved the desired level of quality.

Q100. What are some of the software configuration management tools?
A: Software configuration management tools include Rational ClearCase, DOORS, PVCS, CVS; and there are many others. Rational ClearCase is a popular software tool, made by Rational Software, for revision control of source code. DOORS, or "Dynamic Object Oriented Requirements System", is a requirements version control software tool. CVS, or "Concurrent Version System", is a popular, open source version control system to keep track of changes in documents associated with software projects. CVS enables several, often distant, developers to work together on the same source code. PVCS is a document version control tool, a competitor of SCCS. SCCS is an original UNIX program, based on "diff". Diff is a UNIX command that compares contents of two files.

Q101. What is software configuration management?
A: Software Configuration management (SCM) is the control, and the recording of, changes that are made to the software and documentation throughout the software development life cycle (SDLC). SCM covers the tools and processes used to control, coordinate and track code, requirements, documentation, problems, change requests, designs, tools, compilers, libraries, patches, and changes made to them, and to keep track of who makes the changes. Rob Davis has experience with a full range of CM tools and concepts, and can easily adapt to an organization's software tool and process needs.

Q102. What other roles are in testing?
A: Depending on the organization, the following roles are more or less standard on most testing projects: Testers, Test Engineers, Test/QA Team Leads, Test/QA Managers, System Administrators, Database Administrators, Technical Analysts, Test Build Managers, and Test Configuration Managers. Depending on the project, one person can and often wear more than one hat. For instance, we Test Engineers often wear the hat of Technical Analyst, Test Build Manager and Test Configuration Manager as well.

Q103. What's the difference between priority and severity?
A: Severity Crash – 1 The module/product crashes or the bug causes non-recoverable conditions System crashes, GP faults, or database or file corruption, or potential data loss, program hangs requiring reboot are all examples of Severity-1 Major - 2 Major system component usable due to failure or incorrect functionality. Severity –2 bugs cause serious problems such as lack of functionality, or insufficient or unclear error messages that can have a major impact to the user prevents other areas of the application from being tested, etc. Sev.2 bugs can have a work around, but the work around is inconvenient or difficult. Minor – 3 Incorrect functionality of component or process. There is a simple work around for the bug if it is Sec.3. Trivial - 4 Documentation errors or signed off severity 3 bugs. Priority Must Fix – 1 The bug must be fixed immediately, the product cannot ship with this bug. Should Fix - 2 These are important problems that should be fixed as soon as possible. It would be an embarrassment to the company if this bug shipped. Fix When Have Time – 3 The problem should be fixed within the time available. If the bug does not delay shipping date, then fix it. Low Priority – 4 It is not important at this stage that these bugs be addressed. Fix these bugs after all other bugs have been fixed. "Priority" is associated with scheduling, and "severity" is associated with standards. "Priority" means something is afforded or deserves prior attention; precedence established by order of importance (or urgency). "Severity" is the state or quality of being severe; severe implies adherence to rigorous standards or high principles and often suggests harshness; severe is marked by or requires strict adherence to rigorous standards or high principles, e.g. a severe code of behavior. The words priority and severity do come up in bug tracking. A variety of commercial, problem-tracking/management software tools are available. These tools, with the detailed input of software test engineers, give the team complete information so developers can understand the bug, get an idea of its 'severity', reproduce it and fix it. The fixes are based on project 'priorities' and 'severity' of bugs. The 'severity' of a problem is defined in accordance to the customer's risk assessment and recorded in their selected tracking tool. Buggy software can 'severely' affect schedules, which, in turn can lead to a reassessment and renegotiation of 'priorities'. Bug Impacts Low impact This is for Minor problems, such as failures at extreme boundary conditions that are unlikely to occur in normal use, or minor errors in layout/formatting. These problems do not impact use of the product in any substantive way. Medium impact This is a problem that a) Effects a more isolated piece of functionality. b) Occurs only at certain boundary conditions. c) Has a workaround (where "don't do that" might be an acceptable answer to the user). d) Occurs only at one or two customers. or e) Is very intermittent High impact This should be used for only serious problems, effecting many sites, with no workaround. Frequent or reproducible crashes/core dumps/GPFs would fall in this category, as would major functionality not working. Urgent impact This should be reserved for only the most catastrophic of problems. Data corruption, complete inability to use the product at almost any site, etc. For released products, an urgent bug would imply that shipping of the product should stop immediately, until the problem is resolved.

Q104. What is the difference between verification and validation?
A: Verification takes place before validation, and not vice versa. Verification evaluates documents, plans, code, requirements, and specifications. Validation, on the other hand, evaluates the product itself. The inputs of verification are checklists, issues lists, walkthroughs and inspection meetings, reviews and meetings. The input of validation, on the other hand, is the actual testing of an actual product. The output of verification is a nearly perfect set of documents, plans, specifications, and requirements document. The output of validation, on the other hand, is a nearly perfect, actual product Verification is a process that helps to determine if the software requirements are complete, correct; and if the software of each development phase fulfills the requirements and conditions Verification Verification typically involves reviews and meetings to evaluate documents, plans, code, requirements, and specifications. The determination of consistency, correctness & completeness of a program at each stage. Validation Validation typically involves actual testing and takes place after verifications are completed. The determination of correctness of a final program with respect to its requirements

Q105. What is documentation change management?
A: Documentation change management is part of configuration management (CM). CM covers the tools and processes used to control, coordinate and track code, requirements, documentation, problems, change requests, designs, tools, compilers, libraries, patches, changes made to them and who makes the changes. Rob Davis has had experience with a full range of CM tools and concepts. Rob Davis can easily adapt to your software tool and process needs.

Q106. What is up time?
A: Up time is the time period when a system is operational and in service. Up time is the sum of busy time and idle time.

Q107. What is a user manual?
A: User manual is a document that presents information necessary to employ software or a system to obtain the desired results. Typically, what is described are system and component capabilities, limitations, options, permitted inputs, expected outputs, error messages, and special instructions.

Q108. What is the difference between user documentation and user manual?
A: When a distinction is made between those who operate and use a computer system for its intended purpose, a separate user documentation and user manual is created. Operators get user documentation, and users get user manuals.

Q109. What is user interface?
A: User interface is the interface between a human user and a computer system. It enables the passage of information between a human user and hardware or software components of a computer system.

Q110. What is a variant?
A: Variants are versions of a program. Variants result from the application of software diversity.

Q111. What is a version description document (VDD)?
A: Version description document (VDD) is a document that accompanies and identifies a given version of a software product. Typically the VDD includes a description, and identification of the software, identification of changes incorporated into this version, and installation and operating information unique to this version of the software.

Q112. What is the difference between system testing and integration testing?
A: System testing is high level testing, and integration testing is a lower level testing. Integration testing is completed first, not the system testing. In other words, upon completion of integration testing, system testing is started, and not vice versa. For integration testing, test cases are developed with the express purpose of exercising the interfaces between the components. For system testing, on the other hand, the complete system is configured in a controlled environment, and test cases are developed to simulate real life scenarios that occur in a simulated real life test environment. The purpose of integration testing is to ensure distinct components of the application still work in accordance to customer requirements. The purpose of system testing, on the other hand, is to validate an application's accuracy and completeness in performing the functions as designed, and to test all functions of the system that are required in real life.

Q113. What are the parameters of performance testing?
A: The term 'performance testing' is often used synonymously with stress testing, load testing, reliability testing, and volume testing. Performance testing is a part of system testing, but it is also a distinct level of testing. Performance testing verifies loads, volumes, and response times, as defined by requirements.

Q114. How do you conduct peer reviews?
A: The peer review, sometimes called PDR, is a formal meeting, more formalized than a walk-through, and typically consists of 3-10 people including a test lead, task lead (the author of whatever is being reviewed), and a facilitator (to make notes). The subject of the PDR is typically a code block, release, feature, or document, e.g. requirements document or test plan. The purpose of the PDR is to find problems and see what is missing, not to fix anything. The result of the meeting should be documented in a written report. Attendees should prepare for this type of meeting by reading through documents, before the meeting starts; most problems are found during this preparation. Preparation for PDRs is difficult, but is one of the most cost-effective methods of ensuring quality, since bug prevention is more cost effective than bug detection.

Q115. How do you check the security of your application?
A: To check the security of an application, we can use security/penetration testing. Security/penetration testing is testing how well the system is protected against unauthorized internal or external access, or willful damage. This type of testing usually requires sophisticated testing techniques.

Q116. How do you test the password field? what is your focus?
A: To test the password field, we do boundary value testing. When testing the password field, one needs to verify that passwords are encrypted.

Q117. What stage of bug fixing is the most cost effective?
A: Bug prevention, i.e. inspections, PDRs, and walk-throughs, is more cost effective than bug detection.

Q118. What is your view of software QA/testing?
A: Software QA/testing is easy, if requirements are solid, clear, complete, detailed, cohesive, attainable and testable, if schedules are realistic, and if there is good communication. Software QA/testing is a piece of cake, if project schedules are realistic, if adequate time is allowed for planning, design, testing, bug fixing, re-testing, changes, and documentation. Software QA/testing is easy, if testing is started early on, if fixes or changes are re-tested, and if sufficient time is planned for both testing and bug fixing. Software QA/testing is easy, if new features are avoided, if one is able to stick to initial requirements as much as possible.

Q119. What does a Test Strategy Document contain?
A: The test strategy document is a formal description of how a software product will be tested. A test strategy is developed for all levels of testing, as required. The test team analyzes the requirements, writes the test strategy and reviews the plan with the project team. The test plan may include test cases, conditions, the test environment, and a list of related tasks, pass/fail criteria and risk assessment. Additional sections in the test strategy document include: A description of the required hardware and software components, including test tools. This information comes from the test environment, including test tool data. A description of roles and responsibilities of the resources required for the test and schedule constraints. This information comes from man-hours and schedules. Testing methodology. This is based on known standards. Functional and technical requirements of the application. This information comes from requirements, change request, technical, and functional design documents. Requirements that the system cannot provide, e.g. system limitations.

Q120. What is test methodology?
A: One test methodology is a three-step process. Creating a test strategy, Creating a test plan/design, and Executing tests. This methodology can be used and molded to your organization's needs. Rob Davis believes that using this methodology is important in the development and ongoing maintenance of his customers' applications.

Q-121 How do you test if you have minimal or no documentation about the product?
A:By Assumption.

Q-122 What types of documents would you need for QA, QC and Testing ?
A:For QA, QC External Specifications, User Requirement Specifications, Business Requirement Specifications. For Testing Use Cases and Test Plan.

Q-123 What is Thread Testing?
A:A variation of Top-Down testing where the progressive integration of components follows the implementation of subsets of the requirements, as opposed to the integration of components by successively lower levels.

Q.124 . Q-10] How do you differentiate the roles of Quality Assurance Manager & Project Manager
A: Project Manager :-
Management of the project – both technical and managerial aspects. Reporting to Director (International Operations) on the progress of projects. Preparation and implementation of the 'Project Management Plan’. Responsible for giving technical proposals to customers Interfacing with the customer.
Responsible for customer satisfaction by ensuring quality of deliverables on time. Periodically evaluate project progress and report to management. Guiding the Preparation, and updating the SDLC process documents Interfacing with all aspects of the project management; Establishing the inter group coordination; Managing a Technical Performance of the team to monitor and control the system during the system life cycle, metrics, etc. System requirements analysis, functional/capability analysis, synthesis, and formal qualification test definition; Participating the software design reviews; Participation in formal design reviews; Providing technical consultation and review as necessary. Support the Development Leader and Team in resolving project delivery, customer interface, communication and other people related issues.
QA Manager :-
Responsible for all Quality Assurance activities of the company. Management Representative of the company. Provide guidance in the implementation of Quality management system Responsible for monitoring the implementation of Quality management system. Participate in the review of Project management plan Participate in the reviews of SDLC outputs Plan and conduct periodic quality assurance reviews and audits Plan and conduct periodic internal audits Collect and analyze product and process metrics. Monitor customer feed back and customer satisfaction Monitor customer complaints Report to management on the performance of the quality management system Writing test plans and execution of the same. Co-ordinate with Project In-charge and resolve the identified defects by QA Team. Review installation, release notes and user documentation. Initiation of periodic training on the company QMS to the new employees.

Q.125 . Have you ever created a Test Plan?
A: No, I created only internal test plans.

Q.126. what did your base for test cases?
A: Use Cases, User requirement specifications.

Q127 .At what stage of the life cycle does testing begin in your opinion?
A: At the designing stage.

Q-128 How do you go about testing a web application ?
In the web application we have Unit Testing, Integration Testing, Functional Testing, Regression Testing, System testing, Stress Testing, Load Testing, Usability testing, Scalability Testing types. Under these test types we have to check Forms, Databases, web page, Frames, Animation, printing, Transactions per second, Response time, Through put, down load time, Browser compatibility, OS compatibility, navigation and presentation.

Q-129 What is the difference between QA and QC ?
Quality Assurence : QA consists of the editing and reporting functions of management .The goal of QA is to provide management with the data necessary to be informed abougt product quality, there by gaining insight and confidence that product quality is meeting its goals. Of course, if the data provided through QA identify problems, it is managements responsibility to address the problems and apply the necessary resources to resolve quality issues. Quality Control: QC is the series of inspections, reviews, and tests used throughout the development cycle to ensure that each work product meets the requirements placed upon it. QC includes a feedback loop to the process that created the work product. The combination of measurement and feedback allows us to tune the process when the work products created fail to meet their specification. These approach views QC as part of the manufacturing process QC activities may be fully automated, manual or a combination of automated tools and human interaction. An essential concept of QC is that all work products have defined and measurable specification to which we may compare the outputs of each process the feedback loop is essential to minimize the defect product.

Q-130 What is CMM and CMMI ?
CMM :- A module or guideline “for judging the maturity of the software processes of an organization and for identifying the key practices that are required to increase the maturity of these processes”, developed by the Software Engineer Institute (SEI). CMM is usually used, as above, to refer to CMM-SW, the CMM for software, though there are now also CMMs’ for people, software acquisition and integration. Though SEI develops and promotes these Capability Maturity Models (CMM), the SEI itself does not certify the CMM-level or organization. CMMI – See Capability Maturity Model CMM Level 1 Initial. -.No set processes- Processes used on an ad-hoc basis. Each project implemented in a manner that the project manager and team see fit. Software Management people centric and there is a dependence on “Champion” Project Managers for project success.

Q-131 What is the responsibility of Programmers & QA ?
Responsible for coordinating with in team in preparing SRS and other project related documents. Participating in review meetings with Development Leader for analyzing the designs, preparation of functional flow charts, database design etc. Coding as per specifications and coding standards. Responsible for unit testing and timely execution of the project. Maintaining project related folders/files as per configurations management plans Participation in internal audits. Effective implementation of corrective and preventive actions. Prompt reporting of any major reworks associated with coding to Development Leader. Responsible for attending training programs identified by Development Leader from time to time. Participation in peer reviews and complying with the requirements of ISO-9001. Preparing the daily status report and submitting to Development Leader.
QA :-
Responsible for coordinating with in team in preparing test plan and other project related documents. Participating in review meetings with QA In-Charge for analyzing the designs, preparation of test plans, test cases design etc. Writing test cases as per specifications and coding standards. Responsible for unit testing of test cases and timely execution of the project. Maintaining project related folders/files as per configurations management plans Participation in internal audits. Effective implementation of corrective and preventive actions. Prompt reporting of any major reworks associated with coding to QA In-Charge. Responsible for attending training programs identified by QA in-Charge from time to time. Participation in peer reviews and compiling with the requirements of ISO-9001.

Q-132 What are the roles of Glass-Box and Black-Box Testing tools ?
Glass Box Testing :-

Test case selection that is based on an anlysis of the internal structure of the component. Testing by looking only at the code. Some times also called Code Based Testing. Obviously you need to be a programmer and you need to have the source code to do this. Black Box Testing :-

The case selection that is bases on an analysis of the specification of the component without reference to its internal workings. Testing by looking only at the inputs and outputs, not at the inside of a program. Sometimes also called “Requirements Based Testing”. You do not need to be a programmer, you only need to know what the program is supposed to do and be able to tell whether an output is correct or not.

Q-133 What is the Testing Life Cycle and Explain of its each phase ?
Test Life Cycle:-

Test Plan
Design Test Cases
Execute tests
Evaluate Results
Doument test Results
Casual Analysis / Preparation of Validation Reports
Regression Testing / Follow Up on reported bugs.
Each and every phase has bugs.

Q-134 What is Volume Testing, Stress Testing, Usability Testing & Security Testing?
Volume Testing:

The purpose of volume testing is to find weakness in the system with respect to its handling of large amounts of data during short time periods. For example, this kind of testing ensures that the system will process data across disk partitions on one server.

Stress Testing:

This refers to testing system functionality while the system is under unusually heavy or peak load; it is similar to the validation testing mentioned previously but is carried out in a “high-stress” environment. This requires that you make some predictions about expected load levels of your web site.

Usability Testing:

Usability means that systems are easy and fast to learn, efficient to use, easy to remember, cause no operating errors and offer a high degree of satisfaction fopr the user. Usability means bringing the usage perspective into focus, the side towards the user.

Security Testing:

If your site requires firewalls, encryption, user authentication, financial transactions, or access to databases with sensitive data, you may need to test these and also test your sites overall protection against unauthorized internal or external access.

Q-135 What is Test Specification ?
Test Specification: A Test Specification defines exactly what tests will be performed and what their scope and objectives will be. A Test Specification is produced as the first step in implementing a Test Plan, prior to the onset of manual testing and/or automated test suit development. It provides a repeatable, comprehensive definition of a testing campaign.

Q-136 What is Test Plan & Test Strategy?
Test Plan:

A record of the test planning process detailing the degree of tester independence, the test environment, the test case design techniques and test measurement techniques, to be used, and the rational for their choice. Test Strategy:

Test strategy contains what are the feautures to be tested in the application. The strategy is to verify the feauture functionality on an existing updated and parallel verify and close all the defects which are said closed by Development Team.

Q.137 Why do we need two parameters, severity and priority, for a defect can’t we do only with one?
It depends entirely on the size of the company. Severity tells us how bad the defect is. Priority tells us how soon it is desired to fix the problem. In some companies, the defect reporter sets the severity and the triage team or product management sets the priority. In a small company, or project (or product), particularly where there aren't many defects to track, you can expect you don't really need both since a high severity defect is also a high priority defect. But in a large company, and particularly where there are many defects, using both is a form of risk management. Major would be 1 and Trivial would be 3. You can add or multiply the two values together (there is only a small difference in the outcome) and then use the event's risk value to determine how you should address the problem. The lower values must be addressed and the higher values can wait.

Q.138 What is the difference between a bug, a defect, and an error?
1. Error: programmatically mistake leads to error. Bug: Deviation from the expected result. Defect: Problem in algorithm leads to failure. Failure: Result of any of the above. Compare those to these arbitrary definitions: Error: When we get the wrong output i.e. syntax error, logical error Fault: When everything is correct but we are not able to get a result Failure: We are not able to insert any input 2. Mistake (an error): A human action that produces an incorrect result. - Mistake made in translation or interpretation. - Lots of taxonomies exist to describe errors. Fault: An incorrect step, process or data definition. - Manifestation of the error in implementation - this is really nebulous, hard to pin down the 'location' failure: An incorrect result. Bug: An informal word describing any of the above. (Not IEEE)

Q.139.What's a 'test plan'?
A software project test plan is a document that describes the objectives, scope, approach, and focus of a software testing effort. The process of preparing a test plan is a useful way to think through the efforts needed to validate the acceptability of a software product. The completed document will help people outside the test group understand the 'why' and 'how' of product validation. It should be thorough enough to be useful but not so thorough that no one outside the test group will read it. The following are some of the items that might be included in a test plan, depending on the particular project: Title , Identification of software including version/release numbers Revision history of document including authors, dates, approvals , Software product overview Table of Contents , Purpose of document, intended audience , Objective of testing effort Relevant related document list, such as requirements, design documents, other test plans, etc. Relevant standards or legal requirements , Traceability requirements Relevant naming conventions and identifier conventions Overall software project organization and personnel/contact-info/responsibilities Test organization and personnel/contact-info/responsibilities, Scope and limitations of testing Assumptions and dependencies, Project risk analysis, Testing priorities and focus Test outline - a decomposition of the test approach by test type, feature, functionality, process, system, module, etc. as applicable Outline of data input equivalence classes, boundary value analysis, and error classes Test environment - hardware, operating systems, other required software, data configurations, interfaces to other systems Test environment validity analysis - differences between the test and production systems and their impact on test validity. Test environment setup and configuration issues, Software migration processes, Software CM processes Test data setup requirements, Database setup requirements Outline of system-logging/error-logging/other capabilities, and tools such as screen capture software that will be used to help describe and report bugs Discussion of any specialized software or hardware tools that will be used by testers to help track the cause or source of bugs Test automation - justification and overview, Test tools to be used, including versions, patches, etc. Test script/test code maintenance processes and version control Problem tracking and resolution - tools and processes, Project test metrics to be used Reporting requirements and testing deliverables, Software entrance and exit criteria Initial sanity testing period and criteria, Test suspension and restart criteria, Personnel allocation Personnel pre-training needs, Test site/location Outside test organizations to be utilized and their purpose, responsibilities, deliverables, contact persons, and coordination issues Relevant proprietary, classified, security, and licensing issues, Open issues, Appendix - glossary, acronyms.

Q.140 How does a client/server environment affect testing?
Client/server applications can be quite complex due to the multiple dependencies among clients, data communications, hardware, and servers. Thus testing requirements can be extensive. When time is limited (as it usually is) the focus should be on integration and system testing. Additionally, load/stress/performance testing may be useful in determining client/server application limitations and capabilities. There are commercial tools to assist with such testing

Q.141 How can World Wide Web sites be tested?
Web sites are essentially client/server applications - with web servers and 'browser' clients. Consideration should be given to the interactions between html pages, TCP/IP communications, Internet connections, firewalls, applications that run in web pages (such as applets, JavaScript, plug-in applications), and applications that run on the server side (such as cgi scripts, database interfaces, logging applications, dynamic page generators, asp, etc.). Additionally, there are a wide variety of servers and browsers, various versions of each, small but sometimes significant differences between them, variations in connection speeds, rapidly changing technologies, and multiple standards and protocols. The end result is that testing for web sites can become a major ongoing effort. Other considerations might include: What are the expected loads on the server (e.g., number of hits per unit time?), and what kind of performance is required under such loads (such as web server response time, database query response times). What kinds of tools will be needed for performance testing (such as web load testing tools, other tools already in house that can be adapted, web robot downloading tools, etc.)? Who is the target audience? What kind of browsers will they be using? What kind of connection speeds wills they by using? Are they intra- organization (thus with likely high connection speeds and similar browsers) or Internet-wide (thus with a wide variety of connection speeds and browser types)? What kind of performance is expected on the client side (e.g., how fast should pages appear, how fast should animations, applets, etc. load and run)? Will down time for server and content maintenance/upgrades be allowed? How much? What kinds of security (firewalls, encryptions, passwords, etc.) will be required and what is it expected to do? How can it be tested? How reliable are the site's Internet connections required to be? And how does that affect backup system or redundant connection requirements and testing? What processes will be required to manage updates to the web site's content, and what are the requirements for maintaining, tracking, and controlling page content, graphics, links, etc.? Which HTML specification will be adhered to? How strictly? What variations will be allowed for targeted browsers? Will there be any standards or requirements for page appearance and/or graphics throughout a site or parts of a site?? How will internal and external links be validated and updated? How often? Can testing be done on the production system, or will a separate test system be required? How are browser caching, variations in browser option settings, dial-up connection variability’s, and real-world Internet 'traffic congestion' problems to be accounted for in testing? How extensive or customized are the server logging and reporting requirements; are they considered an integral part of the system and do they require testing? How are cgi programs, applets, java scripts, ActiveX components, etc. to be maintained, tracked, controlled, and tested? Pages should be 3-5 screens max unless content is tightly focused on a single topic. If larger, provide internal links within the page. The page layouts and design elements should be consistent throughout a site, so that it's clear to the user that they're still within a site. Pages should be as browser-independent as possible, or pages should be provided or generated based on the browser-type. All pages should have links external to the page; there should be no dead-end pages. The page owner, revision date, and a link to a contact person or organization should be included on each page.

142. Difference between USECASE and a TEST CASE?
Use case describes a sequence of actions a system performs that yields an observable result of value to a particular actor
We derive Test cases from Use cases. We will identify requirements through Use cases.

143. How test cases will be designed?
Test cases should be designed and developed based on the User requirements, System architecture and Functionality. Also this varies based on what testing and at what stage the testing is carried out.

If it is Unit Testing then the Test Cases will be developed to test the smallest part of the overall user's requirements or the small component of the overall system architecture.

If it is an Integration testing then the Test case will be developed to verify a function of the User requirements or an interface between two modules of the System.

If it is a System Testing then the Test Case will be developed to validate the System as a whole End-to-end, while combining it with the required HW, Database, Networking and any other connections such as Printers, Fax or any other external supporting SW application. Here, while an input is given to the System, the System's behavior to handle the input data and its final expected out put will be verified. And finally if it is User Acceptance Testing, then the Test Cases will be developed from the User's requirements perspective.

FAQ 7

Testing: --- Process of discovering members of a suspended class of errors in a system. --- Testing is the process of exercising or evaluating a system or component of the system by manual or automated means to verify that it satisfies specified requirements. Characteristics of a Good Tester: --- Enjoy breaking things, must get job satisfaction from finding problems --- does not compromise --- Creative --- wont give up and always find more bugs --- diplomatic, must work with developers, must be a team player Defect: A deviation from a specification or standard Verification: Are we building the product right? All QC activities through out the SDLC that ensure that interim deliverables meet their input specification. Validation: Are we building the right product? The test phase of the SDLC which assures that the end product meets the user needs. Severity levels: ___ Critical ___ Major ___ Average ___ Minor ___ Exception Priority levels: ___ Resolve Immediately ___ Give high attention ___ Normal Queue ___ Low priority ___ Deferred Difference between Testing and Debugging: Testing: -Purpose is to show that the program has bugs -starts with known conditions, user defined procedures, predictable outcomes -can be done by the outsider -much can be done with out design knowledge -can be automated Debugging: -Purpose is to find error and make program changes -unknown initial conditions, end can not be predicted -must be done by the insider -impossible with out design knowldege -automation is still a dream Phase deliverables: Plan__________ Project Plan Analysis______ Requirement Specification Design________ Functional specification Construct_____ Code Release_______ User manuals Maintain______ Retair________ Analysis Testing Activities: * Goal of Analysis : Determine what the user needs and wants? * Testing goal during analysis : Test analysis deliverables, develop testcases from analysis deliverables * Analysis is often done with specifications Testing activities for specifications: ___ Test the specifications by WALKTHROUGHS including users, developers, QA people ___ Develope Testcases from Specifications (No formal technique) Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD): ___ Testing the ERD ( Normalization, completeness, walkthroguh) ___ Developing Testcases ( Edit rules of each attribute, every cardinality) Data Flow Diagram (DFD): ___ Testing the DFD ( Balancing, Completeness, walkthrough) ___ Developing Testcases ( Dataflow, process, supported events) Design Testing Activities: * Goal of Design: Determine how to meet the user requirements with the available technology? * Testing goals during design: Test design deliverables, develop testcases from the design deliverables. Deriving Testcases from a Structured chart: * Define pre-condition for each module (Assumption made by a module about the state of the system before it is called) * Define post-condition for each module ( Assertions made by a module about the state of the system after it completes) * Build testcases ( Create interesting combinations of pre-conditions, Call module, verify post conditions) Structure chart Testing: * Evaluate Coupling * Evaluate Cohesion * Evaluate encapsulation * Completeness report * Requirements traciability reports * Walk throughs. Construction Testing Activities: * Goal of construction: Create a set of programs that meet the design constraints and user requirements. * Testing goals during construction: Verify code meets design; verify code meets requirements. Deriving Testcases: * Whitebox Testing (Know input, output and internals ..... technical) * Blackbox Testing (Know input and output only .......... business) Unit Testing: * Unit is a smallest testable piece of software * Usually done by the developer * Assumes pre-conditions; verifies post-conditions using TEST DRIVER and STUB. * Goal is to exercise code fully ( ex: every line of code excutes once; every loop boundary checked; inputs and outputs checked at limits) Test Driver: It is a software which executes a software in order to test it; Simulates a calling componet.( Top-Down) Stub : Is an imitation of a unit used in place of a real unit to facilitate testing; Simulates a called component. (Bottom-Up) Integration Testing : * Integrate a set of program units (without Testdriver and Stubs) * Turn on pre-condition and post-condition verification * Execute testcases build during Analysis * Tests are from user perspective. Integration Testing Techniques: * Construct Traceability matrices ____ Requirement Vs Modules ____ Requirement Vs Analysis Testcases * Look for all requirements implemented by finished modules * Find all testcases for those requirements * Run all applicable analysis test cases (Testcases derived from DFDs, ERDs and Specs) Release Testing Activities: * Goal of Release: Prepare System for release for users * Testing goals during Release: Verify environmental requirements; Verify business requirements. System Testing: * Security ( Data; Program- Develop Testcases to sneak in to programs and data through Back and Front doors) * Usability- User hostiles, user friendly, or user sedective?) Stress Testing: Alpha Testing: * Verify system meets requirements * simulates users in a controlled environment * Group analysis testcases in to typical user activities * Testers or users execute the testcases (Analysts, designers and developers observing) Beta Testing: * At customer site by the end user * Developer not present * Live situation; developer not in control * Customer records problems and reports to the developer. Maintenance Testing Activities: Goal of Maintenance: Change the system to fix bugs and add features Testing goals during Maintenance: Verify the new features were build correctly; Verify that changes do not introduce bugs. * Correction: _ Fixing a bug ( Req bugs, Design bugs, implementation bugs) * Enhancement: _ Adding new feature ( due to change in requirements etc) Regression Testing: - Regression is a trend or shift toward a lower or less perfect state. Type of Regression Testing: - Bug verification tests - Build acceptance tests - Regression test pass with a regression test suite - Regression test pass on closed bugs - Regression test pass without test suite Test all parts of the system after a change is made; unit test all changed modules; integration test all affected modules; determine affected requirements; test all modules involved in implementing a changed requirements; test remaining requirements. Test plan: Objective: - To create a set of testing tasks - Assign resources to each testing task - Estimate completion time for each testing task - document testing standards Good Test Plan should be: - Clear, Complete and Specific - Developed and Reviewd early - Specifies tangiable deliverables that can be inspected - Include time for planning - Can be monitored and updated - Includes user responsibilities Good Testcase should be: - Have high probability of finding a new defect - Tangible result that can be inspected - Repeatble and predictable - Traceable to requirements or design documents - Execution and tracking can be automated - do not mislead - Feasible Efficiency Techniques: * Flow/Coverage based Testing * Domain based Testing (Using Equivalence Classes, Boundary Value Analysis, Decision table) * Complexity based Testing Coverage based Testing: - Statement Coverage ( Ensure every statement is executed atleast once during testing) - Branch Coverage ( Ensure that every branch is executed atlease once during testing) - Condition Coverage ( Ensure that every condition is executed atleast once during testing) - Multiple Condition Coverage - Full path coverage( Ensure that every path is executed atleast once during testing) Domain based Testing:___________________ Domain based testing techniques look at inputs and outputs and derive test cases based on the analysys of the input and output domains. Equivalence classes: * Define all possible values for input and output * Devide set in to equivalence classes * Determine which classes are most likely to fail * Test atleast one value from each equivalence class Types: - Numerical Equivalence classes ( upper bound, lower bound, upper bound+1, lower bound-1, non numberic, inbound) - Value set equivalence classes (Inset, Out of set, invalid). Boundary Value Analysis: * Helps to write Testcases that exercise boundary values * Complements Equivalence Technique * Input data (For RANGE two test cases for ABOVE and BELOW range; For VALUE two testcases ABOVE and BELOW min and max value) * Output data (Similar approach) Complexity based Testing:_______________________ * Direct more Testing resources to most complex portions * Code Complexity measure (Cyclomatic complexity) STOP CRITERIA (How much to Test?) _________________________________ * Testing stops when all the testcases derived from EP and BVA are executed without producting any error. * A certain number of errors are found (Ex: Testing shall continue until N number of errors have been found and corrected) Testing METRICS: ______________ * Cyclomatic complexity * Coverage Metrics ( Statement coverage, Decision coverage, Path coverage, Condition coverage, Boolean operand effectiveness coverage) * Testing stops when all statements, branches are executed and all test cases execute without failure. * Stop when testing becomes un-productive (Ex: system testing stops when the number of errors detected per testing person day drops under 2) * Stop testing when the number of bugs left over reduces to X/1000LOC REVIEWS: _______ Purpose: Emphasize quality throughout development by detecting defects earlier as it is economical to fix defects early in the lifecycle. Types: Peer Reviews, Walkthroughs, Inspection and Test Audits. Inspection: A formal evaluation technique in which software requirements, design and code are examined in detail by a group of persons other than the authors to detect faults, violation of development standards and other problems. Whythis? --- To verify that specifications are satisfied, verify confirmation to standards, identify deviation from standards and specifications, collect data for improvements. Testing and Inspection differences: ________________________________________ Inspection ------------- Testing ________________________________________ Earlier ------------ Later Before Code ----------After Code Static ---------- Dynamic Documents ---------- Working Product ________________________________________ Both aim at evaluating and improving the Quality; Find and fix defects. Both are not mutually exclusive and does not replace each other. Test documents need to be inspected too. Which parts of SDLC can be automated?:___________________________________ ___ Defect Management ___ Test Coverage ___ Test Execution and Regression Testing ___ Test Planning ___ Test data generation Defect Management Tools: * Ensure that defects are not "lost" * Provide information for effective follow-up * Analyze defects for potential improvements * Tracking from the time a defect is found to the time it is closed * Classification of defects by priority and severity * Reports for tracking pending defects Test Coverage tools: * These tools allow tester to concentrate on less tested parts, minimize test redundancy. * Statement/branch/Interface coverage * Whitebox Testing Test Planning Tools: Test Execution, Regression Testing Tools: * Protects investments in test data, scripts * Involve capturing a test for replay, comparing new outputs with old, run collections of tests automatically. Test Data Generators: * Create random selections of cases * Create all possible combinations * Generate Test drivers and stubs