When and Where do we test?
What is Quality Assurance?
Systematic Monitoring and evaluation of different aspects of a product to ensure that standards of quality are being used.
What is the goal of a software tester?
To find bugs, the earlier the better. The later in the development cycle a bug is found, the exponentially more expensive.
What is the goal of Quality Assurance?
To ensure that processes and procedures are followed and to improve the process with the goal that process improvements will result in improving the software. It will reduce the probability of bugs getting into the software in the first place.
Are programmers responsible for any of the activities involved in software quality and testing? what are they?
Yes, build code that is well-documented that follows best practices and provide proof that the code meets the specification
List some of the main tools and documents that a software tester will use to accomplish his job successfully?
Plan – An overall document that describes what will be done during testing
A list of test cases (use cases are often used to build test cases)
A method/system to document the bugs/problems
Testing tools and Automation
Metrics / Statistics/ Summaries – Managers need thes
What are some of the realities or limitations of testing software that all parties involved in the development or use of software must be aware of?
- Not all bugs will be found / fixed in any significantly large system.
- You can’t write tests for all cases
- Some bugs are too risky to fix. eg. May break other components of a tightly integrated system.
- It may not be worth it to fix the bug eg. Limited number of users, simple workaroun
What is Black-Box Testing?
Testing that is done where access to the program source code is not available and or needed. The test technique is used to apply an input that will produce a response that can be evaluated for correctness.
When is it a bug?
- Bug classifications are used as a way to confirm where and why a certain behavior is a bug.
- We use project documents to confirm the expected behaviour/result of an application feature.
- In most cases the project specification will be used as the guiding document.
What are the 4 main bug classifications?
- Software does not do something in the specification.
- Software does something that the specification says it should not do.
- Software does something that the specification does not mention.
- Software does not do something it should **, that is not mentioned in the specification.
** missing a feature that is present in similar software
What happens if a bug doesn’t fit into the standard categories?
Some bugs do not fit into the standard categories. Any unspecified / incorrect behaviour should be reported.
This will be Bug Classification #5
eg.
Simple – Inconsistent formatting / spelling
Major – Crash (Exceptions, Blue screen of death, Dataloss)
These are all aspects we expect to work correctly in any application. Generally the programmer has failed to consider all cases when these bugs occur.
What is a software specification?
A software specification is a description of the correct operation of an application. Can be provided as a list of requirements.
The specification is used to inform the design of the product.
What are the Important questions that should be asked during the review of the specification?
Is it complete and accurate?
Is it consistent?
Are the terms and nomenclature the same throughout the document
Is the information relevant?
Is the information presented important to the development of THIS application.
Extra information can be a distraction. Keep the specification focused.
Is it Feasible?
Can it be built with current hardware / software
Is the specification code/technology free?
Should not specify technology in the list of requirements.
Can the Specification be tested?
Is it complete and specific enough to be able to generate use cases. The use cases can be used to generate specific test cases
How much more expensive is it to fix a bug later on in the SDLC?
What are the main reasons bug fixes are delayed or not fixed?
- Not enough time
- Not really a bug
- Too risky to fix
- Not worth it to fix - impacts few users
- Bug report is vague - difficult to reproduce
What would a bug report look like?
What are some things that affect the severity of a bug?
System crash, Data Loss, security breach
Loss of functionality, wrong result
Formatting , rare event
of Users affected
What are the different states of a bug during a typical bug life cycle?
OPEN – First reported into the system
REVIEW/CONFIRM – Analyzed to verify
RESOLVED – Fix applied
DEFERRED – Recognized, but bug is a low priority – may not be corrected in this version
CLOSED – Bug has been corrected and solution has been accepted
Why do websites need to be tested?
- Web sites have a potential large audience
- They are public
- Quality of site reflect on the company
- Need to be professional - Can have a diverse set of users/uses
What is gray box-testing?
Grey box testing is when you can see partial amounts of what goes on behind the scenes not just the gui. eg inspect page
Partial view into the code on a web-page
HTML is visible some CSS/javascript may also be visible
