SoftwareTestingOverview

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SoftwareTestingisevaluationofthesoftwareagainstrequirementsgatheredfromusersandsystem
specifications.Testingisconductedatthephaselevelinsoftwaredevelopmentlifecycleoratmodulelevelin
programcode.SoftwaretestingcomprisesofValidationandVerification.

SoftwareValidation
Validationisprocessofexaminingwhetherornotthesoftwaresatisfiestheuserrequirements.Itiscarriedoutat
theendoftheSDLC.Ifthesoftwarematchesrequirementsforwhichitwasmade,itisvalidated.

Validationensurestheproductunderdevelopmentisaspertheuserrequirements.
Validationanswersthequestion"Arewedevelopingtheproductwhichattemptsallthatuserneedsfrom
thissoftware?".
Validationemphasizesonuserrequirements.

SoftwareVerification
Verificationistheprocessofconfirmingifthesoftwareismeetingthebusinessrequirements,andisdeveloped
adheringtotheproperspecificationsandmethodologies.

Verificationensurestheproductbeingdevelopedisaccordingtodesignspecifications.
Verificationanswersthequestion"Arewedevelopingthisproductbyfirmlyfollowingalldesign
specifications?"
Verificationsconcentratesonthedesignandsystemspecifications.

Targetofthetestare

ErrorsTheseareactualcodingmistakesmadebydevelopers.Inaddition,thereisadifferenceinoutput
ofsoftwareanddesiredoutput,isconsideredasanerror.

FaultWhenerrorexistsfaultoccurs.Afault,alsoknownasabug,isaresultofanerrorwhichcancause
systemtofail.

Failurefailureissaidtobetheinabilityofthesystemtoperformthedesiredtask.Failureoccurswhen
faultexistsinthesystem.

ManualVsAutomatedTesting
Testingcaneitherbedonemanuallyorusinganautomatedtestingtool:

ManualThistestingisperformedwithouttakinghelpofautomatedtestingtools.Thesoftwaretester
preparestestcasesfordifferentsectionsandlevelsofthecode,executesthetestsandreportstheresultto
themanager.
 Manualtestingistimeandresourceconsuming.Thetesterneedstoconfirmwhetherornotrighttestcases
areused.Majorportionoftestinginvolvesmanualtesting.

AutomatedThistestingisatestingproceduredonewithaidofautomatedtestingtools.Thelimitations
withmanualtestingcanbeovercomeusingautomatedtesttools.

AtestneedstocheckifawebpagecanbeopenedinInternetExplorer.Thiscanbeeasilydonewithmanual
testing.Buttocheckifthewebservercantaketheloadof1millionusers,itisquiteimpossibletotestmanually.

Therearesoftwareandhardwaretoolswhichhelpstesterinconductingloadtesting,stresstesting,regression
testing.

TestingApproaches
Testscanbeconductedbasedontwoapproaches

Functionalitytesting
Implementationtesting

Whenfunctionalityisbeingtestedwithouttakingtheactualimplementationinconcernitisknownasblackbox
testing.Theothersideisknownaswhiteboxtestingwherenotonlyfunctionalityistestedbutthewayitis
implementedisalsoanalyzed.

Exhaustivetestsarethebestdesiredmethodforaperfecttesting.Everysinglepossiblevalueintherangeofthe
inputandoutputvaluesistested.Itisnotpossibletotesteachandeveryvalueinrealworldscenarioiftherange
ofvaluesislarge.

Blackboxtesting
Itiscarriedouttotestfunctionalityoftheprogram.ItisalsocalledBehavioraltesting.Thetesterinthiscase,
hasasetofinputvaluesandrespectivedesiredresults.Onprovidinginput,iftheoutputmatcheswiththe
desiredresults,theprogramistestedok,andproblematicotherwise.

Inthistestingmethod,thedesignandstructureofthecodearenotknowntothetester,andtestingengineersand
endusersconductthistestonthesoftware.

Blackboxtestingtechniques:

EquivalenceclassTheinputisdividedintosimilarclasses.Ifoneelementofaclasspassesthetest,itis
assumedthatalltheclassispassed.

BoundaryvaluesTheinputisdividedintohigherandlowerendvalues.Ifthesevaluespassthetest,it
isassumedthatallvaluesinbetweenmaypasstoo.
 CauseeffectgraphingInbothpreviousmethods,onlyoneinputvalueatatimeistested.Causeinput
Effectoutput isatestingtechniquewherecombinationsofinputvaluesaretestedinasystematicway.

PairwiseTestingThebehaviorofsoftwaredependsonmultipleparameters.Inpairwisetesting,the
multipleparametersaretestedpairwisefortheirdifferentvalues.

StatebasedtestingThesystemchangesstateonprovisionofinput.Thesesystemsaretestedbasedon
theirstatesandinput.

Whiteboxtesting
Itisconductedtotestprogramanditsimplementation,inordertoimprovecodeefficiencyorstructure.Itisalso
knownasStructuraltesting.

Inthistestingmethod,thedesignandstructureofthecodeareknowntothetester.Programmersofthecode
conductthistestonthecode.

ThebelowaresomeWhiteboxtestingtechniques:

ControlflowtestingThepurposeofthecontrolflowtestingtosetuptestcaseswhichcoversall
statementsandbranchconditions.Thebranchconditionsaretestedforbothbeingtrueandfalse,sothat
allstatementscanbecovered.

DataflowtestingThistestingtechniqueemphasistocoverallthedatavariablesincludedinthe
program.Ittestswherethevariablesweredeclaredanddefinedandwheretheywereusedorchanged.

TestingLevels
TestingitselfmaybedefinedatvariouslevelsofSDLC.Thetestingprocessrunsparalleltosoftware
development.Beforejumpingonthenextstage,astageistested,validatedandverified.

Testingseparatelyisdonejusttomakesurethattherearenohiddenbugsorissuesleftinthesoftware.Software
istestedonvariouslevels

UnitTesting

Whilecoding,theprogrammerperformssometestsonthatunitofprogramtoknowifitiserrorfree.Testingis
performedunderwhiteboxtestingapproach.Unittestinghelpsdevelopersdecidethatindividualunitsofthe
programareworkingasperrequirementandareerrorfree.

IntegrationTesting

Eveniftheunitsofsoftwareareworkingfineindividually,thereisaneedtofindoutiftheunitsifintegrated
togetherwouldalsoworkwithouterrors.Forexample,argumentpassinganddataupdationetc.
SystemTesting

Thesoftwareiscompiledasproductandthenitistestedasawhole.Thiscanbeaccomplishedusingoneor
moreofthefollowingtests:

FunctionalitytestingTestsallfunctionalitiesofthesoftwareagainsttherequirement.

PerformancetestingThistestproveshowefficientthesoftwareis.Itteststheeffectivenessandaverage
timetakenbythesoftwaretododesiredtask.Performancetestingisdonebymeansofloadtestingand
stresstestingwherethesoftwareisputunderhighuseranddataloadundervariousenvironment
conditions.

Security&PortabilityThesetestsaredonewhenthesoftwareismeanttoworkonvariousplatforms
andaccessedbynumberofpersons.

AcceptanceTesting

Whenthesoftwareisreadytohandovertothecustomerithastogothroughlastphaseoftestingwhereitis
testedforuserinteractionandresponse.Thisisimportantbecauseevenifthesoftwarematchesalluser
requirementsandifuserdoesnotlikethewayitappearsorworks,itmayberejected.

AlphatestingTheteamofdeveloperthemselvesperformalphatestingbyusingthesystemasifitis
beingusedinworkenvironment.Theytrytofindouthowuserwouldreacttosomeactioninsoftwareand
howthesystemshouldrespondtoinputs.

BetatestingAfterthesoftwareistestedinternally,itishandedovertotheuserstouseitundertheir
productionenvironmentonlyfortestingpurpose.Thisisnotasyetthedeliveredproduct.Developers
expectthatusersatthisstagewillbringminuteproblems,whichwereskippedtoattend.

RegressionTesting

Wheneverasoftwareproductisupdatedwithnewcode,featureorfunctionality,itistestedthoroughlytodetect
ifthereisanynegativeimpactoftheaddedcode.Thisisknownasregressiontesting.

TestingDocumentation
Testingdocumentsarepreparedatdifferentstages

BeforeTesting

Testingstartswithtestcasesgeneration.Followingdocumentsareneededforreference

SRSdocumentFunctionalRequirementsdocument

TestPolicydocumentThisdescribeshowfartestingshouldtakeplacebeforereleasingtheproduct.

TestStrategydocumentThismentionsdetailaspectsoftestteam,responsibilitymatrixand
rights/responsibilityoftestmanagerandtestengineer.

TraceabilityMatrixdocumentThisisSDLCdocument,whichisrelatedtorequirementgathering
process.Asnewrequirementscome,theyareaddedtothismatrix.Thesematriceshelptestersknowthe
sourceofrequirement.Theycanbetracedforwardandbackward.
WhileBeingTested

Thefollowingdocumentsmayberequiredwhiletestingisstartedandisbeingdone:

TestCasedocumentThisdocumentcontainslistoftestsrequiredtobeconducted.ItincludesUnittest
plan,Integrationtestplan,SystemtestplanandAcceptancetestplan.

TestdescriptionThisdocumentisadetaileddescriptionofalltestcasesandprocedurestoexecute
them.

TestcasereportThisdocumentcontainstestcasereportasaresultofthetest.

TestlogsThisdocumentcontainstestlogsforeverytestcasereport.

AfterTesting

Thefollowingdocumentsmaybegeneratedaftertesting:

TestsummaryThistestsummaryiscollectiveanalysisofalltestreportsandlogs.Itsummarizesand
concludesifthesoftwareisreadytobelaunched.Thesoftwareisreleasedunderversioncontrolsystemif
itisreadytolaunch.

Testingvs.QualityControl,QualityAssuranceandAudit
Weneedtounderstandthatsoftwaretestingisdifferentfromsoftwarequalityassurance,softwarequalitycontrol
andsoftwareauditing.

SoftwarequalityassuranceThesearesoftwaredevelopmentprocessmonitoringmeans,bywhichitis
assuredthatallthemeasuresaretakenasperthestandardsoforganization.Thismonitoringisdoneto
makesurethatpropersoftwaredevelopmentmethodswerefollowed.

SoftwarequalitycontrolThisisasystemtomaintainthequalityofsoftwareproduct.Itmayinclude
functionalandnonfunctionalaspectsofsoftwareproduct,whichenhancethegoodwillofthe
organization.Thissystemmakessurethatthecustomerisreceivingqualityproductfortheirrequirement
andtheproductcertifiedasfitforuse.

SoftwareauditThisisareviewofprocedureusedbytheorganizationtodevelopthesoftware.Ateam
ofauditors,independentofdevelopmentteamexaminesthesoftwareprocess,procedure,requirements
andotheraspectsofSDLC.Thepurposeofsoftwareauditistocheckthatsoftwareanditsdevelopment
process,bothconformstandards,rulesandregulations.