Effective Software Testing: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your Testing

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 12
Acknowledgments......Page 16
1. Requirements Phase......Page 18
 Item 1: Involve Testers from the Beginning......Page 20
 Item 2: Verify the Requirements......Page 22
 Item 3: Design Test Procedures As Soon As Requirements Are Available......Page 28
 Item 4: Ensure That Requirement Changes Are Communicated......Page 32
 Item 5: Beware of Developing and Testing Based on an Existing System......Page 36
2. Test Planning......Page 40
 Item 6: Understand the Task At Hand and the Related Testing Goal......Page 42
 Item 7: Consider the Risks......Page 48
 Item 8: Base Testing Efforts on a Prioritized Feature Schedule......Page 56
 Item 9: Keep Software Issues in Mind......Page 58
 Item 10: Acquire Effective Test Data......Page 60
 Item 11: Plan the Test Environment......Page 64
 Item 12: Estimate Test Preparation and Execution Time......Page 68
3. The Testing Team......Page 80
 Item 13: Define Roles and Responsibilities......Page 82
 Item 14: Require a Mixture of Testing Skills, Subject-Matter Expertise, and Experience......Page 92
 Item 15: Evaluate the Tester’s Effectiveness......Page 96
4. The System Architecture......Page 108
 Item 16: Understand the Architecture and Underlying Components......Page 110
 Item 17: Verify That the System Supports Testability......Page 114
 Item 18: Use Logging to Increase System Testability......Page 116
 Item 19: Verify That the System Supports Debug and Release Execution Modes......Page 120
5. Test Design and Documentation......Page 124
 Item 20: Divide and Conquer......Page 126
 Item 21: Mandate the Use of a Test-Procedure Template and Other Test-Design Standards......Page 132
 Item 22: Derive Effective Test Cases from Requirements......Page 138
 Item 23: Treat Test Procedures As “Living” Documents......Page 142
 Item 24: Utilize System Design and Prototypes......Page 144
 Item 25: Use Proven Testing Techniques when Designing Test-Case Scenarios......Page 146
 Item 26: Avoid Including Constraints and Detailed Data Elements within Test Procedures......Page 152
 Item 27: Apply Exploratory Testing......Page 156
6. Unit Testing......Page 160
 Item 28: Structure the Development Approach to Support Effective Unit Testing......Page 162
 Item 29: Develop Unit Tests in Parallel or Before the Implementation......Page 168
 Item 30: Make Unit-Test Execution Part of the Build Process......Page 172
7. Automated Testing Tools......Page 176
 Item 31: Know the Different Types of Testing-Support Tools......Page 178
 Item 32: Consider Building a Tool Instead of Buying One......Page 184
 Item 33: Know the Impact of Automated Tools on the Testing Effort......Page 188
 Item 34: Focus on the Needs of Your Organization......Page 194
 Item 35: Test the Tools on an Application Prototype......Page 200
8. Automated Testing: Selected Best Practices......Page 202
 Item 36: Do Not Rely Solely on Capture/Playback......Page 204
 Item 37: Develop a Test Harness When Necessary......Page 208
 Item 38: Use Proven Test-Script Development Techniques......Page 214
 Item 39: Automate Regression Tests When Feasible......Page 218
 Item 40: Implement Automated Builds and Smoke Tests......Page 224
9. Nonfunctional Testing......Page 228
 Item 41: Do Not Make Nonfunctional Testing an Afterthought......Page 230
 Item 42: Conduct Performance Testing with Production-Sized Databases......Page 234
 Item 43: Tailor Usability Tests to the Intended Audience......Page 238
 Item 44: Consider All Aspects of Security, for Specific Requirements and System-Wide......Page 242
 Item 45: Investigate the System’s Implementation To Plan for Concurrency Tests......Page 246
 Item 46: Set Up an Efficient Environment for Compatibility Testing......Page 252
10. Managing Test Execution......Page 256
 Item 47: Clearly Define the Beginning and End of the Test-Execution Cycle......Page 258
 Item 48: Isolate the Test Environment from the Development Environment......Page 262
 Item 49: Implement a Defect-Tracking Life Cycle......Page 264
 Item 50: Track the Execution of the Testing Program......Page 272
 A......Page 276
 C......Page 277
 D......Page 278
 E......Page 279
 K......Page 280
 P......Page 281
 R......Page 283
 S......Page 284
 T......Page 285
 U......Page 287
 W......Page 288