TESTING FOR SUCCESS 1

Running head: TESTING FOR SUCCESS

Testing Ior Success
Team A
David 'Toby Meyers, Brett Morey and James Pearson
PRG/421 Java Programming II
Tarik Iles
October 24, 2011

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Testing Ior Success
Try to access the needs oI the institution without re-inventing the wheel or costing a
billion dollars. Does the soItware meet the needs oI the institution? Will the soItware use too
much hardware resources? Will it be so buggy that it will actually take longer than manually
going through the process? How is it you will Iind these things out? Testing will tell you a lot,
but how will you know iI you have tested the soItware properly? 'How are you doing that? What
are the industry best practices? How do you hold the line on costs? How do you ensure that the
testing is done quickly, and how are you validating the test cases? (Gessner, 2008) This is done
through using industry best practices and having an easy to Iollow testing liIecycle. Asking the
right questions in the right circumstances, might work with a human; but with a piece oI
soItware, how do you ask it how it will Iail to meet expectations in a constricted time period and
Ior a certain amount oI money? You must keep in mind certain concepts when testing.
According to Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Testing Tools & Best Practices,
(Macy, 2009): to assess the robustness, reliability, and resilience oI a service you have to
Comprehensively test a service using the Iour primary Iocus areas: Functionality, PerIormance,
Interoperability and Security.
Functionality the quality or state oI being Iunctional; especially: the set oI Iunctions or
capabilities associated with computer soItware or hardware or an electronic device, (Webster,
2011). The soItware actually accomplishes the tasks to which it is employed, in a reasonable
Iashion. The end user can understand how to control it in a normal work environment with little
training.
PerIormance 'is the ability to perIorm: EIIiciency the manner in which a mechanism
perIorms, (Webster, 2011). PerIormance is a little more complicated than just, can it be used;
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perIormance is about how well it perIormed its tasks. This Ior computers means that it has to use
minimal resources like graphics, bandwidth, memory consumption and processor clock ticks.
AIter all, iI your program works but ties up all the resources on the companies` machines, then it
does not work.
Interoperability is the 'ability oI a system (as a weapons system) to work with or use the
parts or equipment oI another system (Webster, 2011). A program should be able to work on
most systems; iI it can only work on one system then everyone must have that system in order to
operate. It must work under most similar system, and with things like a basic printer.
Security 'measures taken to guard against espionage or sabotage, crime, attack, or escape
and an organization or department whose task is security (Webster, 2011). A user must have
anti-virus soItware and Iirewall systems, but a soItware developer must make sure that their
program cannot be exploited and will not act in insecure or harmIul ways.
Testing Criteria and Standards
Testing is an integral part oI the development process. Without this phase oI
development there would be all kinds oI issues with soItware on all sides oI the market such as
consumer and industrial and so Iorth. Testing has several parts to it in and oI itselI. One oI the
more important parts oI this process is deciding on what criteria will be used to determine iI the
program is a success or iI there are still issues that need to be addressed beIore the product is
delivered or shipped.
When it comes to a set oI standards or criteria in java programming there is something
called the UTI or UniIied Testing Initiative (UniIied Testing Initistive). This program sets a
common set oI guidelines and standards that will allow Java apps to make sure they will run on
all platIorms and devices. This gives developers common ground to work Irom so they know
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that the work they are doing will work across all scenarios so they can maximize exposure and in
turn proIitability.
This is important because it allows the Developer to know that they have an industry
standard to work within. HTML has had some issues with incompatibility because oI this very
problem. II the industry was lacking this kind oI set standard then this would be the case here as
well. With this kind oI standard to go by when your developing the code you have a much
better understanding oI what needs to be done and there will be less issue that require this kind oI
compatibility adjustment.
Another kind oI testing criteria is a standards test. Things like proper execution and does
the soItware do what the client needs. This is a set oI standards that can vary Irom developer to
developer and project to project depending on things like scope and purpose. These kinds oI
standards are usually set at the beginning oI a project and can change throughout the
development liIe cycle. This can be Ior any number oI reasons, such as the program needing to
add Iunctionality or take it away.
Having set criteria and standards also helps when the soItware is broken up into diIIerent
parts and developed by diIIerent people. With a standard that is being worked within by all
involved, you won`t have so many issues when you need to integrate all the diIIerent parts oI the
soItware. Everyone having a common goal will keep things along the same path. Testing serves
more oI a purpose than just saying, yes it works or no it doesn`t.
Things such as status updates Ior shareholders within the company also come Irom
testing procedures and practices (IMPORTANCE OF TESTING IN SDLC). Improving product
quality is a direct result Irom the testing process and its standards. Another valuable piece oI
inIormation that comes Irom testing is reliability and stability. Testing will put the soItware
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through its paces so to speak and try to Iind out iI there are areas that need to be Iixed so the
soItware will stay reliable and stable when being implemented.
For all these reasons and more there are sets oI standards and criteria that must be met in
order Ior the soItware to be considered ready Ior the client. Testing is an essential and integral
part oI the liIe cycle at all phases. Without it you would see all kinds oI delayed projects and a
much more expensive process.
Unit Testing
Unit testing is a method oI testing classes and methods oI a program by isolating the
classes and methods within a class and testing them individually. Unit testing should be
completed by the soItware developers either in conjunction or immediately aIter implementing
the unit oI code (Braude & Bernstein, 2011). Unit testing uses white box and black box testing
methods. Unit testing is a valuable tool in testing soItware.
The Iirst step in unit testing is identiIying what needs to be tested. Deciding what units
need to be tested and what the units are supposed to do. The requirements Ior this testing come
Irom the design and requirements documentation Ior the program. Once the units to be tested are
determined a systematic approach to testing must be used to ensure that every part oI the
soItware is tested correctly and accurately. The methods should be tested Iirst and then the
classes, and Iinally the packages as a whole.
Test cases should be seceded in advance and every possible path through a method, class,
or package should be tested. This mapping oI the paths through the methods, classes and
packages should be done by the developers since they are the ones that are the most Iamiliar with
the structure oI the program. Some methods may not be able to stand alone and will need stubs
written to aid in the testing. II the unit testing is conducted by another organization then they will
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have to have time to learn the soItware and study the various ways the program can execute. It is
vital that every possible path through the program is tested to ensure that any errors are
discovered.
The white box methods that can be used are statement coverage, branch coverage, and
path coverage (Braude & Bernstein, 2011). The black box methods are equivalence partitioning
and boundary value analysis (Braude & Bernstein, 2011). All oI these methods must be used in
conjunction to ensure proper testing and the capture oI any errors in the soItware.
Unit testing is powerIul tool when used correctly. The breakdown oI the program into the
basic methods ensures that each aspect oI the program is tested. Working up through the classes
as whole and then the package as a whole ensures that every aspect oI the program is tested and
every path oI execution is tested. Unit testing is very thorough but also very time, and resource
consuming. When unit testing properly it can be a very powerIul tool in testing and should be
used whenever possible.


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Conclusion


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ReIerences
Gessner (2008). 3G Mobile Phone ConIormance Test - What are the industry best practices?
President / CEO Exile Machine LLC,
Retrieved on October 18, 2011 Irom: LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/answers/technology/wireless/TCHWIR/258613-4578253.
Macy (2009). Limits oI Open Source testing tools.
SOA Testing Tools & Best Practices Blog.
Retrieved on October 18, 2011 Irom:
http://www.soatesting.com/2009/06/limits-oI-open-source-soa-testing-tools.html.
Webster (2011). Functionality.
Retrieved on October 18, 2011 Irom:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Iunctionality.
Webster (2011). PerIormance.
Retrieved on October 18, 2011 Irom:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perIormance.
Webster (2011). Interoperability.
Retrieved on October 18, 2011 Irom:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interoperability.
Webster ( 2011) . Security.
Retrieved on October 18, 2011 Irom:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/security.
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IMPORTANCE OF TESTING IN SDLC. (n.d.). Retrieved 10 23, 2011, Irom testing interview
questions and answers: http://testinginterviewquestionsandanswers.com/importance-oI-testing-
in-sdlc.html
Unified Testing Initistive. (n.d.). Retrieved 10 22, 2011, Irom UniIied esting Initiative:
http://www.uniIiedtestinginitiative.org/testing-programmes