ISTBQ 1 Study

Personal Study Guide for ISTQ Chapter 1

Error

A human action that produces an incorrect result

Defect (Bug)/ **Fault**

A flaw in a component or system that can cause the component or system to fail to perform its required function. A defect, if encountered during execution, may cause a failure of the component or system

Failure

Deviation of the component or system from its expected delivery, service or result.

Testing shows presence of defects (Principle)

Testing can show that defects are present, but cannot prove that there are no defects

Exhaustive testing is impossible (Principle)

Testing everything (all combinations of inputs and preconditions) is not feasible except for trivial cases. Instead of exhaustive testing, risk analysis and priorities should be used to focus testing efforts

Early testing (Principle)

To find defects early, testing activities shall be started as early as possible in the SDLC, and shall be focused on defined objectives.

Defect clustering (Principle)

Testing effort shall be focused proportionally to the expected and later observed defect density of modules. A small number of modules usually contains most of the defects discovered during pre-release testing, or is responsible for most of the operational failures.

Pesticide paradox (Principle)

If the same tests are repeated over and over again, eventually the same set of test cases will no longer find any new defects. To overcome this 'pesticide paradox', test cases need to be regularly reviewed and revised, and new and different tests need to be written to exercise different parts of the software or system to find potentially more defects.

Testing is context dependent (Principle)

Testing is done differently in different contexts. For example, safety-critical software is tested differently from an e-commerce site

Absence-of-errors fallacy (Principle)

Finding and fixing defects does not help if the system built is unusable and does not fulfill the user's needs and expectations

Test planning and control (Fundamental test process)

Involves defining the overall strategic and tactical objectives of testing, as well as discovering and specifying the specific test activities required.

Test planning or Test plan

A document describing the scope, approach, resources and schedule of intended test activities

Test monitoring

Periodically checking the status of the test project. Reports are prepared that compare the actuals to that which was planned

Test analysis and design (Fundamental test process)

Transforming testing objectives defined in the test plan into tangible test conditions and test cases

Test condition

An item or event of a component or system that could be verified by one or more test cases (e.g Function)

Test basis

The documentation on which the test cases are based

Frozen test basis

Document can only be amended by way of formal amendment procedure

Test coverage

The degree, expressed as a percentage, to which a specified coverage item has been exercised by a test suite

Test implementation and execution (Fundamental test process)

Test procedures are specified and high level test cases are transformed into low level. Test implementation also involves setting up the test environment

Test suite

A set of several test cases for a component or system under test, where the post condition of one test if often used as the precondition for the next one

Incident

Any event occurring that requires investigation

Testware

Artifacts produced during the tes process required to plan, design, and execute tests

Exit Criteria

The set of generic and specific conditions, agreed upon with the stakeholders, for permitting a process to be officially completed.

Evaluating exit criteria and reporting (Fundamental test process)

Assess test execution against the objectives which was defined in the test plan

Test Summary Report

A document summarizing testing activities and results. It also contains an evaluation of the corresponding test items against exit criteria

Test Closure Activities (Fundamental test process)

Data from completed test activities are collected and consolidated, including testware, facts, and numbers.

Regression testing

Testing of a previously tested program following modifiction to ensure that defects have not been introduced or uncovered in unchanged areas of the software as a result of the changes made. It is performed when the software or its environment is changed

Confirmation testing or re-testing

Testing failed test cases after it has been fixed, in order to verify the success of corrective action

Test strategy

A high-level description of the test levels to be performed and the testing within those levels for an organisation or program

Error guessing

An experience-based test design technique where the experience of the tester is used to anticipate what defects might be present in the component or system under test. uUsually only done after formal testing techniques have been completed

Independence of testing

Separation of responsibilities, which encourages the accomplishment of objective testing

What is software testing?

Software testing is the process of validating and verifying a software program follows **business and technical specifications and requirements, works as expected, and assesses the quality of the software.**

Why is Testing Necessary?

Testing is necessary because it contributes to the quality of software, its required, and reduces the risks of failure ( prevents defects, and reduces codes and meets requirements)

Testing is enough when:

Its confident that the system works correctly

It doesn't have to be what's planned or if its satisfactory

It depends on the risk for your system

7 Testing Principles

\***Testing shows the presence of defects, not their absence**

\***Exhaustive testing is impossible**

\***Early testing saves time and money**

\***Defect cluster together**

\***Pesticide Paradox**

\***Testing is context dependent**

\***Absence of errors is a fallacy**

Test Suite -

a group of tests scripts or execution schedule

Test Case-

contains the results and have a set of input values and execution conditions, it's like a metaphoric case to hold the results

Test Script -

the instructions of the testing

Test charter -

an event that could be verified