ISTQB CTFL v4.0 Terms

Terms for the ISTQB CTFL v4.0 exam

Acceptance Criteria

The criteria that a component or system must satisfy in order to be accepted by a user, customer, or other authorized entity.

Acceptance Test-Driven Development

A collaboration-based test-first approach that defines acceptance tests in the stakeholders’ domain language.

Acceptance Testing

A test level that focuses on determining whether to accept the system.

Acceptance Testing

A test level that focuses on determining whether to accept the system.

Actual Result

The behavior produced / observed when a component or system is tested.

Agile Software Development

A group of software development methodologies based on iterative incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between cross-functional teams.

Alpha Testing

A type of acceptance testing performed in the developer’s test environment by roles outside the development organization.

Anomaly

A condition that deviates from expectation.

API Testing

Testing performed by submitting requests to the test object using its application programming interface.

Audit

An independent examination of a work product or process performed by a third party to assess whether it complies with specifications, standards, contractual agreements, or other criteria.

Availability

The degree to which a component or system is operational and accessible when required for use.

Behavior-Driven Development

A collaborative approach to development in which the team is focusing on delivering expected behavior of a component or system for the customer, which forms the basis for testing.

Beta Testing

A type of acceptance testing performed at an external site to the developer’s test environment by roles outside the development organization.

Black-Box Test Technique

A test technique based on an analysis of the specification of a component or system.

Black-Box Testing

Testing based on analysis of the specification of the component or system.

Boundary Value

A minimum or maximum value of an ordered equivalence partition.

Boundary Value Analysis

A black-box test technique in which test cases are designed based on boundary values.

Branch

A transfer of control between two nodes in the control flow graph of a test item.

Branch Coverage

The coverage of branches in a control flow graph.

Branch Testing

A white-box test technique in which the test conditions are branches.

Cause-Effect Diagram

A graphical representation used to organize and display the interrelationships of various possible root causes of a problem. Possible causes of a real or potential defect or failure are organized in categories and subcategories in a horizontal tree-structure, with the (potential) defect or failure as the root node.

Checklist-Based Review

A review technique guided by a list of questions or required attributes.

Checklist-Based Testing

An experience-based test technique in which test cases are designed to exercise the items of a checklist.

Coding Standard

A standard that describes the characteristics of a design or a design description of data or program components.

Collaboration-Based Test Approach

An approach to testing that focuses on defect avoidance by collaborating among stakeholders.

Compatibility

The degree to which a component or system can exchange information with other components or systems, and/or perform its required functions while sharing the same hardware or software environment.

Complexity

The degree to which the design or code of a component or system is difficult to understand.

Compliance

Adherence of a work product to standards, conventions or regulations in laws and similar prescriptions.

Component

A part of a system that can be tested in isolation.

Component Integration Testing

The integration testing of components.

Component Testing

A test level that focuses on individual hardware or software components.

Configuration Management

A discipline applying technical and administrative direction and surveillance to identify and document the functional and physical characteristics of a configuration item, control changes to those characteristics, record and report change processing and implementation status, and verify that it complies with specified requirements

Confirmation Testing

A type of change-related testing performed after fixing a defect to confirm that a failure caused by that defect does not reoccur.

Continuous Integration

An automated software development procedure that merges, integrates and tests all changes as soon as they are committed.

Continuous Testing

An approach that involves a process of testing early, testing often, test everywhere, and automate to obtain feedback on the business risks associated with a software release candidate as rapidly as possible.

Control Flow

The sequence in which operations are performed by a business process, component or system.

Cost of Quality

The total costs incurred on quality activities and issues and often split into prevention costs, appraisal costs, internal failure costs and external failure costs.

Coverage

The degree to which specified coverage items are exercised by a test suite, expressed as a percentage.

Coverage Criteria

The criteria to define the coverage items required to reach a test objective.

Coverage Item

An attribute or combination of attributes derived from one or more test conditions by using a test technique.

Dashboard

A representation of dynamic measurements of operational performance for some organization or activity, using metrics represented via metaphors such as visual dials, counters, and other devices resembling those on the dashboard of an automobile, so that the effects of events or activities can be easily understood and related to operational goals.

Debugging

The process of finding, analyzing and removing the causes of failures in a component or system.

Decision Table Testing

A black-box test technique in which test cases are designed to exercise the combinations of conditions and the resulting actions shown in a decision table.

Defect

An imperfection or deficiency in a work product where it does not meet its requirements or specifications.

Defect Density

The number of defects per unit size of a work product.

Defect Detection Percentage

The number of defects found by a test level, divided by the number found by that test level and any other means afterwards.

Defect Management

The process of recognizing, recording, classifying, investigating, resolving and disposing of defects.

Defect Report

Documentation of the occurrence, nature, and status of a defect.

Driver

A component or tool that temporarily replaces another component and controls or calls a test item in isolation.

Dynamic Testing

Testing that involves the execution of the test item.

Effectiveness

The extent to which correct and complete goals are achieved.

Efficiency

The degree to which resources are expended in relation to results achieved.

Entry Criteria

The set of conditions for officially starting a defined task.

Equivalence Partition

A subset of the value domain of a variable within a component or system in which all values are expected to be treated the same based on the specification.

Equivalence Partitioning

A black-box test technique in which test conditions are equivalence partitions exercised by one representative member of each partition.

Error

A human action that produces an incorrect result.

Error Guessing

A test technique in which tests are derived on the basis of the tester's knowledge of past failures, or general knowledge of failure modes.

Exhaustive Testing

A test approach in which the test suite comprises all combinations of input values and preconditions.

Exit Criteria

The set of conditions for officially completing a defined task.

Expected Result

The observable predicted behavior of a test item under specified conditions based on its test basis.

Experience-Based Test Technique

A test technique based on the tester's experience, knowledge and intuition.

Exploratory Testing

An approach to testing in which the testers dynamically design and execute tests based on their knowledge, exploration of the test item and the results of previous tests.

Failed

The status of a test result in which the actual result does not match the expected result.

Failure

An event in which a component or system does not perform a required function within specified limits.

Feature-Driven Development

An iterative and incremental software development process driven from a client-valued functionality (feature) perspective. This process is mostly used in Agile software development.

Finding

A result of an evaluation that identifies some important issue, problem, or opportunity.

Formal Review

A type of review that follows a defined process with a formally documented output.

Functional Appropriateness

The degree to which the functions facilitate the accomplishment of specified tasks and objectives.

Functional Completeness

The degree to which the set of functions covers all the specified tasks and user objectives.

Functional Correctness

The degree to which a component or system provides the correct results with the needed degree of precision.

Functional Testing

Testing performed to evaluate if a component or system satisfies functional requirements.

Heuristic

A generally recognized rule of thumb that helps to achieve a goal.

Impact Analysis

The identification of all work products affected by a change, including an estimate of the resources needed to accomplish the change.

Incremental Development Model

A type of software development lifecycle model in which the component or system is developed through a series of increments.

Independence of Testing

Separation of responsibilities, which encourages the accomplishment of objective testing.

Informal Review

A type of review that does not follow a defined process and has no formally documented output.

Inspection

A type of formal review that uses defined team roles and measurement to identify defects in a work product, and improve the review process and the software development process.

Integration Testing

A test level that focuses on interactions between components or systems.

Integrity

The degree to which a component or system allows only authorized access and modification to a component, a system or data.

Iterative Development Model

A type of software development lifecycle model in which the component or system is developed through a series of repeated cycles.

Maintainability

The degree to which a component or system can be modified by the intended maintainers.

Maintenance

The process of modifying a component or system after delivery to correct defects, improve quality characteristics, or adapt to a changed environment.

Maintenance Testing

Testing the changes to an operational system or the impact of a changed environment to an operational system.

Maturity

(1) The capability of an organization with respect to the effectiveness and efficiency of its processes and work practices.

(2) The degree to which a component or system meets needs for reliability under normal operation.

Mean Time To Failure

The average time from the start of operation to a failure for a component or system.

Measurement

The process of assigning a number or category to an entity to describe an attribute of that entity.

Metric

A measurement scale and the method used for measurement.

Moderator

(1) The person responsible for running review meetings.

(2) The person who performs a usability test session.

N-Switch Coverage

The coverage of sequences of N+1 transitions.

Negative Testing

Testing a component or system in a way for which it was not intended to be used.

Neuron Coverage

The coverage of activated neurons in the neural network for a set of tests.

Non-Functional Testing

Testing performed to evaluate that a component or system complies with non-functional requirements.

Operational Acceptance Testing

A type of acceptance testing performed to determine if operations and/or systems administration staff can accept a system.

Pair Testing

A test approach in which two team members simultaneously collaborate on testing a work product.

Passed

The status of a test result in which the actual result matches the expected result.

Path

A sequence of consecutive edges in a directed graph.

Performance of Efficiency

The degree to which a component or system uses time, resources and capacity when accomplishing its designated functions.

Planning Poker

A consensus-based estimation technique, mostly used to estimate effort or relative size of user stories in Agile software development. It is a variation of the Wideband Delphi method using a deck of cards with values representing the units in which the team estimates.

Portability

The degree to which a component or system can be transferred from one hardware, software or other operational or usage environment to another.

Postcondition

The expected state of a test item and its environment at the end of test case execution.