Page 193 - DCAP405_SOFTWARE_ENGINEERING

Software Engineering

Notes Self Assessment

Fill in the blank:
12. ……………………test design allows one to peek inside the “box”, and it focuses specifically
on using internal knowledge of the software to guide the selection of test data.

11.5 Test Activities

Compatibility Test: Test to ensure compatibility of an application or Web site with different
browsers, OS, and hardware platforms. Compatibility testing can be performed manually
or can be driven by an automated functional or regression test suite.
Conformance Test: Verifying implementation conformance to industry standards. Producing
tests for the behavior of an implementation to be sure it provides the portability,
interoperability, and/or compatibility a standard defines.

Functional Test: Validating an application or Web site conforms to its specifications and
correctly performs all its required functions. This entails a series of tests, which perform a
feature-by-feature validation of behavior, using a wide range of normal and erroneous
input data. This can involve testing of the product’s user interface, APIs, database
management, security, installation, networking; etc testing can be performed on an
automated or manual basis using black box or white box methodologies.
Load Test: Load testing is a generic term covering Performance Testing and Stress Testing.

Performance Test: Performance testing can be applied to understand your application or
WWW site’s scalability, or to benchmark the performance in an environment of third
party products such as servers and middleware for potential purchase. This sort of testing
is particularly useful to identify performance bottlenecks in high use applications.
Performance testing generally involves an automated test suite as this allows easy
simulation of a variety of normal, peak, and exceptional load conditions.
Regression Test: Similar in scope to a functional test, a regression test allows a consistent,
repeatable validation of each new release of a product or Web site. Such testing ensures
reported product defects have been corrected for each new release and that no new quality
problems were introduced in the maintenance process. Though regression testing can be
performed manually an automated test suite is often used to reduce the time and resources
needed to perform the required testing.
Smoke Test: A quick-and-dirty test that the major functions of a piece of software work
without bothering with finer details. Originated in the hardware testing practice of turning
on a new piece of hardware for the first time and considering it a success if it does not catch
on fire.

Stress Test: Test conducted to evaluate a system or component at or beyond the limits of its
specified requirements to determine the load under which it fails and how. A graceful
degradation under load leading to non-catastrophic failure is the desired result.

!
Caution Often Stress Testing is performed using the same process as Performance Testing
but employing a very high level of simulated load.

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