Software testing tactics
Though this method of test design can uncover many errors or problems, it might not detect unimplemented parts of the specification or missing requirements.
Black-box testing treats the software as a "black box", examining functionality without any knowledge of internal implementation, without seeing the source code.
It uses external descriptions of the software, including specifications, requirements, and designs to derive test cases.
Specification-based testing may be necessary to assure correct functionality, but it is insufficient to guard against complex or high-risk situations.
The aim of visual testing is to provide developers with the ability to examine what was happening at the point of software failure by presenting the data in such a way that the developer can easily find the information she or he requires, and the information is expressed clearly.
Output videos are supplemented by real-time tester input via picture-in-a-picture webcam and audio commentary from microphones.
The quality of communication is increased drastically because testers can show the problem (and the events leading up to it) to the developer as opposed to just describing it and the need to replicate test failures will cease to exist in many cases.
[citation needed] For the customer, it becomes easy to provide detailed bug reports and feedback, and for program users, visual testing can record user actions on screen, as well as their voice and image, to provide a complete picture at the time of software failure for the developers.
[citation needed] Grey-box testing may also include reverse engineering to determine, for instance, boundary values or error messages.
Typically, a grey-box tester will be permitted to set up an isolated testing environment with activities such as seeding a database.
LLT is a group of tests for different level components of software application or product.
In an object-oriented environment, this is usually at the class level, and the minimal unit tests include the constructors and destructors.
[12] Unusual data values in an interface can help explain unexpected performance in the next unit.
This type of testing focuses on the operational readiness of the system to be supported, and/or to become part of the production environment.
For example, in the case of a lack of backward compatibility, this can occur because the programmers develop and test software only on the latest version of the target environment, which not all users may be running.
Sometimes such issues can be fixed by proactively abstracting operating system functionality into a separate program module or library.
Smoke testing consists of minimal attempts to operate the software, designed to determine whether there are any basic problems that will prevent it from working at all.
Regression testing focuses on finding defects after a major code change has occurred.
Specifically, it seeks to uncover software regressions, as degraded or lost features, including old bugs that have come back.
Typically, regressions occur as an unintended consequence of program changes, when the newly developed part of the software collides with the previously existing code.
The depth of testing depends on the phase in the release process and the risk of the added features.
The software is released to groups of people so that further testing can ensure the product has few faults or bugs.
These are usually found in the code requirements documentation, although some development methodologies work from use cases or user stories.
Non-functional testing refers to aspects of the software that may not be related to a specific function or user action, such as scalability or other performance, behavior under certain constraints, or security.
Non-functional requirements tend to be those that reflect the quality of the product, particularly in the context of the suitability perspective of its users.
[citation needed] Software fault injection, in the form of fuzzing, is an example of failure testing.
It can also serve to investigate, measure, validate or verify other quality attributes of the system, such as scalability, reliability and resource usage.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines this as a "type of testing conducted to evaluate the degree to which a test item, and associated data and information, are protected so that unauthorised persons or systems cannot use, read or modify them, and authorized persons or systems are not denied access to them.
"[23] The general ability of software to be internationalized and localized can be automatically tested without actual translation, by using pseudolocalization.
It will verify that the application still works, even after it has been translated into a new language or adapted for a new culture (such as different currencies or time zones).
