Testing

Testing Overview and Black-Box Testing Techniques

Software testing is an important technique for assessing the quality of a software product. In this chapter, we will explain the following: • the basics of software testing, a verification and validation practice, throughout the entire software development lifecycle • the two basic techniques of software testing, black-box testing and white-box testing • six types of testing that involve both black- and white-box techniques. • strategies for writing fewer test cases and still finding as many faults as possible • using a template for writing repeatable, defined test cases

1

Introduction to Testing

Software testing is the process of analyzing a software item to detect the differences between existing and required conditions (that is, bugs) and to evaluate the features of the software item [9, 12]. Software testing is an activity that should be done throughout the whole development process [3]. Software testing is one of the “verification and validation,” or V&V, software practices. Some other V&V practices, such as inspections and pair programming, will be discussed throughout this book. Verification (the first V) is the process of evaluating a system or component to determine whether the products of a given development phase satisfy the conditions imposed at the start of that phase [11]. Verification activities include testing and reviews. For example, in the software for the Monopoly game, we can verify that two players cannot own the same house. Validation is the process of evaluating a system or component during or at the end of the development process to determine whether it satisfies specified requirements [11]. At the end of development validation (the second V) activities are used to evaluate whether the features that have been built into the software satisfy the customer requirements and are traceable to customer requirements. For example, we validate that when a player lands on “Free Parking,” they...