Mississippi State University

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

CSE 4283 / 6283 Software Testing and Quality Assurance

Spring 2012

Prof. Nan Niu

Butler Hall, Room 329 niu@cse.msstate.edu http://www.cse.msstate.edu/~niu

2012, Nan Niu

Mississippi State University

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Todays Menu
Last Lecture: SE Reviews

Quality & Interconnection of course modules

This Lecture

Next Lecture QA & QE

2012, Nan Niu

Mississippi State University

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Recap: SE Reviews
Why

do we engineer products?

How

do we achieve the desired quality?

What

are software process models?

2012, Nan Niu

Mississippi State University

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

The American Heritage Dictionary define quality as a characteristic or attribute of something E.g., quality time (Spent Xmas with families), quality game (Music City Bowl), quality career (Michael Jordan) Deliver software system that does what it is supposed to do. does the things in a desired way. show/demonstrate/prove the above two points. Example scenario: to share a news with a friend in Beijing
E-mail, Skype, Instant Messenger, Phone, Fax

Quality

2012, Nan Niu

Mississippi State University

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Goal Ensure software quality

Software Quality Engineering

Steps Quality planning Execution of QA activities Measurement and analysis Outcome Learn from and package experiences to improve process Activities Testing Inspection Formal verification Fault tolerance Interconnection of course modules
2012, Nan Niu

Mississippi State University

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Quality: A Pragmatic View

The transcendental view argues that quality is something that you immediately recognize, but cannot explicitly define. The user view sees quality in terms of an end-users specific goals. If a product meets those goals, it exhibits quality. The manufacturers view defines quality in terms of the original specification of the product. If the product conforms to the spec, it exhibits quality. The product view suggests that quality can be tied to inherent characteristics (e.g., functions and features) of a product. Finally, the value-based view measures quality based on how much a customer is willing to pay for a product. In reality, quality encompasses all of these views and more.
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E.g., Read some papers but ignore some others

E.g., Word for writing essays vs. for writing math papers

E.g., Spell-checking for essays vs. for math formulas

E.g., Spell-checking & math formula formatting

E.g., Microsoft Office vs. Open Office

2012, Nan Niu

Mississippi State University

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Quality Dimensions

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Robert Glass [2003]

Reliability Efficiency Usability Portability Testability Understandability Modifiability

David Garvin [1987]

Barry Boehm [1992] Richards McCall [2000]

Lots more

Performance Feature (Functionality) Reliability Conformance Durability Serviceability Aesthetics Perception

ISO 9126 Quality Factors

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2012, Nan Niu

Mississippi State University

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

My View
Functionality

is what the software does Quality is how well it does it

Ability is what youre capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. Lou Holts
2012, Nan Niu

Source: Google Images

Mississippi State University

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Difficult to enumerate ilities pragmatic views

Define Quality

Hard to define without additional information One concept that is extremely useful in software engineering is stakeholder The holder of bets in a gambling game Stakeholders in software
Customers (those who pay) Users (those who use)

external (black-box) internal (white-box)

Developers, Maintainers, Managers, Contractors Consultants, Trainers, Certifiers, etc.

We build software in order to satisfy stakeholders needs

2012, Nan Niu

Mississippi State University

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Key Term: V&V

Problem Situation

do the right thing

Correspondence

Correctness

Verification

Problem Statement

Validation
do things right

Implementation Statement

Software
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Mississippi State University

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

The solution changes the problem

Problem Situation
change

Software

abstract model of world implementation statement problem statement

2012, Nan Niu

11

Mississippi State University

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Quality: Views and Attributes

(Table 2.1, p. 23, textbook)

2012, Nan Niu

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Mississippi State University

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Defect and Quality

Defect
Failure: external behavior

definition

Fault: internal characteristics

deviation from expected behavior something goes wrong at execution e.g., student cannot enroll in a course even if nobody is currently enrolled cause for failures a mistake written down in code and/or document e.g., if(current_enrol=max_enrol) {//cannot enroll any more} SHOULD BE if(current_enrol==max_enrol) {//cannot enroll any more} conceptual mistakes human misunderstanding e.g., when the class is full, student can still enroll if the instructor permits

Error: incorrect/missing human action

Bug/debug: problematic terms; avoid

Relations

errros faults failures means causes (Figure 2.1, p. 21, textbook)

(not necessarily 1-1)

2012, Nan Niu

13

Mississippi State University

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Exercise
List

one failure, fault, and error for Word (not necessarily causing each other logically)
Failure: external behavior
Spell-checking does not work if a document is not saved

Fault: internal characteristics

Automatically correct behaviour behavior

Error: incorrect/missing human action

User copies a multi-frame webpage and wishes to preserve both content and format after pasting to Word

Can
2012, Nan Niu

you do the same exercise for Firefox or IE?

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Mississippi State University

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Summary
Quality
Can you define quality? Pragmatic view, dimensions/ilities, (ISO 9126) factors Stakeholders: external vs. internal; failures vs. faults; V&V Defect: errros faults failures (avoid the term bug) Functionality is_part_of / is_orthogonal_to Quality Testing is_part_of Quality Assurance is_part_of Software Quality Engineering

Homework

Review todays slides Study Chapter 4, Quality Assurance in Context, of the textbook Study Chapter 5, Quality Engineering, of the textbook

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