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Lecture Note On Testing Principles

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9 views

Lecture Note On Testing Principles

Uploaded by

maheribnmasum
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Seven Testing Principles

A number of testing principles have been suggested over the past 50 years and offer general
guidelines common for all testing.

1. Testing shows the presence of defects, not their absence

Testing can show that defects are present, but cannot prove that there are no defects. Testing
reduces the probability of undiscovered defects remaining in the software but, even if no defects are
found, testing is not a proof of correctness.

2. Exhaustive testing is impossible

Testing everything (all combinations of inputs and preconditions) is not feasible except for trivial
cases.
Rather than attempting to test exhaustively, risk analysis, test techniques, and priorities should be
used to focus test efforts.

3. Early testing saves time and money

To find defects early, both static and dynamic test activities should be started as early as possible in
the software development lifecycle. Early testing is sometimes referred to as a shift left. Testing
early in the software development lifecycle helps reduce or eliminate costly changes.

4. Defects cluster together

A small number of modules usually contain most of the defects discovered during pre-release
testing or are responsible for most of the operational failures. Predicted defect clusters, and the
actually observed defect clusters in test or operation, are an important input into a risk analysis used
to focus the test effort.

5. Beware of the pesticide paradox

If the same tests are repeated over and over again, eventually these tests no longer find any new
defects.
To detect new defects, existing tests and test data may need changing, and new tests may need to
be written. (Tests are no longer effective at finding defects, just as pesticides are no longer effective
at killing insects after a while.) In some cases, such as automated regression testing, the pesticide
paradox has a beneficial outcome, which is the relatively low number of regression defects.
6. Testing is context-dependent

Testing is done differently in different contexts. For example, safety-critical industrial control
software is tested differently from an e-commerce mobile app. As another example, testing in an
Agile project is done differently than testing in a sequential software development lifecycle project.

7. Absence-of-errors is a fallacy

Some organizations expect that testers can run all possible tests and find all possible defects, but
principles 2 and 1, respectively, tell us that this is impossible. Further, it is a fallacy (i.e., a mistaken
belief) to expect that just finding and fixing a large number of defects will ensure the success of a
system. For example, thoroughly testing all specified requirements and fixing all defects found could
still produce a system that is difficult to use, that does not fulfill the users’ needs and expectations,
or that is inferior compared to other competing systems.

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