Effective Software Testing: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your Testing

203 Pages·2002·0.81 MB·English

by  Elfriede Dustin

Copyright
Preface

Organization

Audience

Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Requirements Phase

Item 1: Involve Testers from the

Beginning

Item 2: Verify the Requirements

Item 3: Design Test Procedures As Soon

As Requirements Are Available

Item 4: Ensure That Requirement

Changes Are Communicated

Item 5: Beware of Developing and

Testing Based on an Existing System

Chapter 2. Test Planning

Item 6: Understand the Task At Hand and

the Related Testing Goal

Item 7: Consider the Risks

Item 8: Base Testing Efforts on a

Prioritized Feature Schedule

Item 9: Keep Software Issues in Mind

Item 10: Acquire Effective Test Data
Item 11: Plan the Test Environment

Item 12: Estimate Test Preparation and

Execution Time

Chapter 3. The Testing Team

Item 13: Define Roles and

Responsibilities

Item 14: Require a Mixture of Testing
Skills, Subject-Matter Expertise, and
Experience

Item 15: Evaluate the Tester's

Effectiveness

Chapter 4. The System Architecture

Item 16: Understand the Architecture and

Underlying Components

Item 17: Verify That the System Supports

Testability

Item 18: Use Logging to Increase System

Testability

Item 19: Verify That the System Supports

Debug and Release Execution Modes

Chapter 5. Test Design and Documentation

Item 20: Divide and Conquer
Item 21: Mandate the Use of a Test-
Procedure Template and Other Test-
Design Standards

Item 22: Derive Effective Test Cases from

Requirements

Item 23: Treat Test Procedures As

"Living" Documents

Item 24: Utilize System Design and

Prototypes

Item 25: Use Proven Testing Techniques

when Designing Test-Case Scenarios

Item 26: Avoid Including Constraints and
Detailed Data Elements within Test
Procedures

Item 27: Apply Exploratory Testing

Chapter 6. Unit Testing

Item 28: Structure the Development
Approach to Support Effective Unit
Testing

Item 29: Develop Unit Tests in Parallel or

Before the Implementation

Item 30: Make Unit-Test Execution Part

of the Build Process

Chapter 7. Automated Testing Tools
Item 31: Know the Different Types of

Testing-Support Tools

Item 32: Consider Building a Tool Instead

of Buying One

Item 33: Know the Impact of Automated

Tools on the Testing Effort

Item 34: Focus on the Needs of Your

Organization

Item 35: Test the Tools on an Application

Prototype

Chapter 8. Automated Testing: Selected Best Practices

Item 36: Do Not Rely Solely on

Capture/Playback

Item 37: Develop a Test Harness When

Necessary

Item 38: Use Proven Test-Script

Development Techniques

Item 39: Automate Regression Tests

When Feasible

Item 40: Implement Automated Builds

and Smoke Tests

Chapter 9. Nonfunctional Testing

Item 41: Do Not Make Nonfunctional

Testing an Afterthought
Item 42: Conduct Performance Testing

with Production-Sized Databases

Item 43: Tailor Usability Tests to the

Intended Audience

Item 44: Consider All Aspects of Security,
for Specific Requirements and System-
Wide

Item 45: Investigate the System's
Implementation To Plan for Concurrency
Tests

Item 46: Set Up an Efficient Environment

for Compatibility Testing

Chapter 10. Managing Test Execution

Item 47: Clearly Define the Beginning

and End of the Test-Execution Cycle

Item 48: Isolate the Test Environment

from the Development Environment

Item 49: Implement a Defect-Tracking

Life Cycle

Item 50: Track the Execution of the

Testing Program
Copyright
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their
products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book,
and Addison-Wesley was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been
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The author and publisher have taken care in the preparation of this book, but make
no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for
errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dustin, Elfriede.
Effective software testing : 50 specific ways to improve your testing / Elfriede
Dustin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-201-79429-2
1. Computer software--Testing. I. Title.
QA76.76.T48 D873 2002
005.1'4— dc21
2002014338
Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Text printed on recycled paper
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First printing, December 2002
Dedication
To Jackie, Erika, and Cedric
Preface
In most software-development organizations, the testing program functions as the
final "quality gate" for an application, allowing or preventing the move from the
comfort of the software-engineering environment into the real world. With this role
comes a large responsibility: The success of an application, and possibly of the
organization, can rest on the quality of the software product.
A multitude of small tasks must be performed and managed by the testing team—
so many, in fact, that it is tempting to focus purely on the mechanics of testing a
software application and pay little attention to the surrounding tasks required of a
testing program. Issues such as the acquisition of proper test data, testability of the
application's requirements and architecture, appropriate test-procedure standards
and documentation, and hardware and facilities are often addressed very late, if at
all, in a project's life cycle. For projects of any significant size, test scripts and
tools alone will not suffice— a fact to which most experienced software testers will
attest.
Knowledge of what constitutes a successful end-to-end testing effort is typically
gained through experience. The realization that a testing program could have been
much more effective had certain tasks been performed earlier in the project life
cycle is a valuable lesson. Of course, at that point, it's usually too late for the
current project to benefit from the experience.
Effective Software Testing provides experience-based practices and key concepts
that can be used by an organization to implement a successful and efficient testing
program. The goal is to provide a distilled collection of techniques and discussions
that can be directly applied by software personnel to improve their products and
avoid costly mistakes and oversights. This book details 50 specific software testing
best practices, contained in ten parts that roughly follow the software life cycle.
This structure itself illustrates a key concept in software testing: To be most
effective, the testing effort must be integrated into the software-development
process as a whole. Isolating the testing effort into one box in the "work flow" (at
the end of the software life cycle) is a common mistake that must be avoided.
The material in the book ranges from process- and management-related topics,
such as managing changing requirements and the makeup of the testing team, to
technical aspects such as ways to improve the testability of the system and the
integration of unit testing into the development process. Although some
pseudocode is given where necessary, the content is not tied to any particular
technology or application platform.
It is important to note that there are factors outside the scope of the testing program
that bear heavily on the success or failure of a project. Although a complete
software-development process with its attendant testing program will ensure a
successful engineering effort, any project must also deal with issues relating to the
business case, budgets, schedules, and the culture of the organization. In some
cases, these issues will be at odds with the needs of an effective engineering
environment. The recommendations in this book assume that the organization is
capable of adapting, and providing the support to the testing program necessary for
its success.
Organization
This book is organized into 50 separate items covering ten important areas. The
selected best practices are organized in a sequence that parallels the phases of the
system development life cycle.
The reader can approach the material sequentially, item-by-item and part-by-part,
or simply refer to specific items when necessary to gain information about and
understanding of a particular problem. For the most part, each chapter stands on its
own, although there are references to other chapters, and other books, where
helpful to provide the reader with additional information.
Chapter 1 describes requirements-phase considerations for the testing effort. It is
important in the requirements phase for all stakeholders, including a representative
of the testing team, to be involved in and informed of all requirements and
changes. In addition, basing test cases on requirements is an essential concept for
any large project. The importance of having the testing team represented during
this phase cannot be overstated; it is in this phase that a thorough understanding of
the system and its requirements can be obtained.
Chapter 2 covers test-planning activities, including ways to gain understanding of
the goals of the testing effort, approaches to determining the test strategy, and
considerations related to data, environments, and the software itself. Planning must
take place as early as possible in the software life cycle, as lead times must be
considered for implementing the test program successfully. Early planning allows
for testing schedules and budgets to be estimated, approved, and incorporated into