Chapter 1

Software Testing
ISTQB / ISEB Foundation Exam Practice

Principles of Testing

1 Principles 2 Lifecycle 3 Static testing

4 Test design
5 Management 6 Tools
techniques
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Principles

Contents
Why testing is necessary
What is testing
Testing principles
Fundamental test process
Psychology of testing
Code of Ethics
Testing terminology

 No generally accepted set of testing

definitions used world wide
 New standard BS 7925-1
- Glossary of testing terms (emphasis on component
testing)
- most recent
- developed by a working party of the BCS SIGIST
- adopted by the ISEB / ISTQB
What is a “bug”?
 Error: a human action that produces an
incorrect result
 Fault: a manifestation of an error in software
- also known as a defect or bug
- if executed, a fault may cause a failure
 Failure: deviation of the software from its
expected delivery or service
- (found defect)
Failure is an event; fault is a state of
the software, caused by an error
Error - Fault - Failure
A person makes
an error ...

… that creates a
fault in the
software ...

… that can cause

a failure
in operation
Reliability versus faults

 Reliability: the probability that software will

not cause the failure of the system for a
specified time under specified conditions
- Can a system be fault-free? (zero faults, right first
time)
- Can a software system be reliable but still have
faults?
- Is a “fault-free” software application always
reliable?
Why do faults occur in software?

 software is written by human beings

- who know something, but not everything
- who have skills, but aren’t perfect
- who do make mistakes (errors)
 under increasing pressure to deliver to strict
deadlines
- no time to check but assumptions may be wrong
- systems may be incomplete
 if you have ever written software ...
What do software faults cost?

 huge sums
- Ariane 5 ($7billion)
- Mariner space probe to Venus ($250m)
- American Airlines ($50m)
 very little or nothing at all
- minor inconvenience
- no visible or physical detrimental impact
 software is not “linear”:
- small input may have very large effect
Safety-critical systems

 software faults can cause death or injury

- radiation treatment kills patients (Therac-25)
- train driver killed
- aircraft crashes (Airbus & Korean Airlines)
- bank system overdraft letters cause suicide
So why is testing necessary?

- because software is likely to have faults

- to learn about the reliability of the software
- to fill the time between delivery of the software and
the release date
- to prove that the software has no faults
- because testing is included in the project plan
- because failures can be very expensive
- to avoid being sued by customers
- to stay in business
 Why not just "test everything"?
Avr. 4 menus
3 options / menu

system has Average: 10 fields / screen

20 screens 2 types input / field
(date as Jan 3 or 3/1)
(number as integer or decimal)
Around 100 possible values

Total for 'exhaustive' testing:

20 x 4 x 3 x 10 x 2 x 100 = 480,000 tests
If 1 second per test, 8000 mins, 133 hrs, 17.7 days
(not counting finger trouble, faults or retest)

10 secs = 34 wks, 1 min = 4 yrs, 10 min = 40 yrs

Exhaustive testing?

 What is exhaustive testing?

- when all the testers are exhausted
- when all the planned tests have been executed
- exercising all combinations of inputs and
preconditions
 How much time will exhaustive testing take?
- infinite time
- not much time
- impractical amount of time
How much testing is enough?

- it’s never enough

- when you have done what you planned
- when your customer/user is happy
- when you have proved that the system works
correctly
- when you are confident that the system works
correctly
- it depends on the risks for your system
How much testing?

 It depends on RISK
- risk of missing important faults
- risk of incurring failure costs
- risk of releasing untested or under-tested software
- risk of losing credibility and market share
- risk of missing a market window
- risk of over-testing, ineffective testing
So little time, so much to test ..

 test time will always be limited

 use RISK to determine:
- what to test first
-
-
what to test most
how thoroughly to test each item } i.e. where to
place emphasis
- what not to test (this time)
 use RISK to
- allocate the time available for testing by
prioritising testing ...
Most important principle

Prioritise tests
so that,
whenever you stop testing,
you have done the best testing
in the time available.
Testing and quality

 testing measures software quality

 testing can find faults; when they are
removed, software quality (and possibly
reliability) is improved
 what does testing test?
- system function, correctness of operation
- non-functional qualities: reliability, usability,
maintainability, reusability, testability, etc.
Other factors that influence testing

 contractual requirements
 legal requirements
 industry-specific requirements
- e.g. pharmaceutical industry (FDA), compiler
standard tests, safety-critical or safety-related such
as railroad switching, air traffic control

It is difficult to determine
how much testing is enough
but it is not impossible
Principles

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Contents
Why testing is necessary
What is testing
Testing principles
Fundamental test process
Psychology of testing
Code of Ethics
Seven Testing Principles

 Testing shows the presence of defects

 Exhaustive testing is impossible
 Early testing
 Defect clustering
 Pesticide paradox
 Testing is context dependent
 Absence-of-errors fallacy
Principles

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Contents
Why testing is necessary
What is testing
Testing principles
Fundamental test process
Psychology of testing
Code of Ethics
Test Planning - different levels
Test
Policy
Company level
Test
Strategy

High
HighLevel
Level Project level (IEEE 829)
Test
TestPlan
Plan (one for each project)

Detailed Test stage level (IEEE 829)

Detailed
Detailed
Test Plan (one for each stage within a project,
Detailed
Test Plan
Test
TestPlan
Plan e.g. Component, System, etc.)
The test process

Planning (detailed level)

check
specification execution recording
completion
Test planning

 how the test strategy and project test plan

apply to the software under test
 document any exceptions to the test strategy
- e.g. only one test case design technique needed for
this functional area because it is less critical
 other software needed for the tests, such as
stubs and drivers, and environment details
 set test completion criteria
Test specification

Planning (detailed level)

check
specification execution recording
completion

Identify conditions
Design test cases
Build tests
A good test case
Finds faults
 effective

 exemplary
Represents others

 evolvable
Easy to maintain
 economic

Cheap to use
 Test specification

 test specification can be broken down into three

distinct tasks:
1. identify: determine ‘what’ is to be tested (identify
test conditions) and prioritise
2. design: determine ‘how’ the ‘what’ is to be tested
(i.e. design test cases)
3. build: implement the tests (data, scripts, etc.)
Task 1: identify conditions
(determine ‘what’ is to be tested and prioritise)
 list the conditions that we would like to test:
- use the test design techniques specified in the test plan
- there may be many conditions for each system function
or attribute
- e.g.
• “life assurance for a winter sportsman”
• “number items ordered > 99”
• “date = 29-Feb-2004”
 prioritise the test conditions
- must ensure most important conditions are covered
Selecting test conditions
Importance

4
Best set

8 First set Time

Task 2: design test cases
(determine ‘how’ the ‘what’ is to be tested)
 design test input and test data
- each test exercises one or more test conditions
 determine expected results
- predict the outcome of each test case, what is
output, what is changed and what is not changed
 design sets of tests
- different test sets for different objectives such as
regression, building confidence, and finding faults
 Most important
Designing test cases test conditions
Least important
Importance test conditions
Test cases

Time
Task 3: build test cases
(implement the test cases)
 prepare test scripts
- less system knowledge tester has the more detailed
the scripts will have to be
- scripts for tools have to specify every detail
 prepare test data
- data that must exist in files and databases at the start
of the tests
 prepare expected results
- should be defined before the test is executed
Test execution

Planning (detailed level)

check
specification execution recording
completion
Execution

 Execute prescribed test cases

- most important ones first
- would not execute all test cases if
• testing only fault fixes
• too many faults found by early test cases
• time pressure
- can be performed manually or automated
Test recording

Planning (detailed level)

check
specification execution recording
completion
Test recording 1

 The test record contains:

- identities and versions (unambiguously) of
• software under test
• test specifications
 Follow the plan
- mark off progress on test script
- document actual outcomes from the test
- capture any other ideas you have for new test cases
- note that these records are used to establish that all
test activities have been carried out as specified
Test recording 2

 Compare actual outcome with expected

outcome. Log discrepancies accordingly:
- software fault
- test fault (e.g. expected results wrong)
- environment or version fault
- test run incorrectly
 Log coverage levels achieved (for measures
specified as test completion criteria)
 After the fault has been fixed, repeat the
required test activities (execute, design, plan)
Check test completion

Planning (detailed level)

check
specification execution recording
completion
Check test completion

 Test completion criteria were specified in the

test plan
 If not met, need to repeat test activities, e.g.
test specification to design more tests

Coverage too low

check
specification execution recording
completion
Coverage
OK
Test completion criteria

 Completion or exit criteria apply to all levels

of testing - to determine when to stop
- coverage, using a measurement technique, e.g.
• branch coverage for unit testing
• user requirements
• most frequently used transactions
- faults found (e.g. versus expected)
- cost or time
 Governs the
Comparison of tasks
quality of tests

Planning Intellectual
one-off
Specification activity Good to
activity automate
Execute repeated
many times
Recording Clerical
Principles

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Contents
Why testing is necessary
What is testing
Testing principles
Fundamental test process
Psychology of testing
Code of Ethics
Why test?

 build confidence
 prove that the software is correct
 demonstrate conformance to requirements
 find faults
 reduce costs
 show system meets user needs
 assess the software quality
Confidence
Confidence
Fault found
Faults found

Time

No faults found = confidence?

 Assessing software quality You think
you are here

Many High Few

Few
Faults Faults
Faults

Low High
Software Quality

Few Test Few

Faults Quality Faults

You may
be here

Low
A traditional testing approach

 Show that the system:

- does what it should
- doesn't do what it shouldn't
Goal: show working
Success: system works

Fastest achievement: easy test cases

Result: faults left in

A better testing approach

 Show that the system:

- does what it shouldn't
- doesn't do what it should
Goal: find faults
Success: system fails

Fastest achievement: difficult test cases

Result: fewer faults left in

The testing paradox

Purpose of testing: to find faults

Finding faults destroys confidence
Purpose of testing: destroy confidence

Purpose of testing: build confidence

The best way to build confidence

is to try to destroy it
Who wants to be a tester?

 A destructive process
 Bring bad news (“your baby is ugly”)
 Under worst time pressure (at the end)
 Need to take a different view, a different
mindset (“What if it isn’t?”, “What could go
wrong?”)
 How should fault information be
communicated (to authors and managers?)
Tester’s have the right to:

- accurate information about progress and changes

- insight from developers about areas of the software
- delivered code tested to an agreed standard
- be regarded as a professional (no abuse!)
- find faults!
- challenge specifications and test plans
- have reported faults taken seriously (non-reproducible)
- make predictions about future fault levels
- improve your own testing process
Testers have responsibility to:

- follow the test plans, scripts etc. as documented

- report faults objectively and factually (no abuse!)
- check tests are correct before reporting s/w faults
- remember it is the software, not the programmer,
that you are testing
- assess risk objectively
- prioritise what you report
- communicate the truth
Independence

 Test your own work?

- find 30% - 50% of your own faults
- same assumptions and thought processes
- see what you meant or want to see, not what is there
- emotional attachment
• don’t want to find faults
• actively want NOT to find faults
Levels of independence

 None: tests designed by the person who

wrote the software
 Tests designed by a different person
 Tests designed by someone from a different
department or team (e.g. test team)
 Tests designed by someone from a different
organisation (e.g. agency)
 Tests generated by a tool (low quality tests?)
Principles

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Contents
Why testing is necessary
What is testing
Testing principles
Fundamental test process
Psychology of testing
Code of Ethics
Code of Ethics

 ISTQB Code of Ethics:

- PUBLIC
- CLIENT AND EMPLOYER
- PRODUCT
- JUDGMENT
- MANAGEMENT
- PROFESSION
- COLLEAGUES
- SELF
Principles

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Summary: Key Points

Why testing is necessary
What is testing
Testing principles
Fundamental test process
Psychology of testing
Code of Ethics