Software Testing
methodology
Unit -1
Introduction:purpose of testing
,dichotomies,model for
testing,consequence of bugs
The purpose of testing
• The purpose of testing is to show that
program has bugs.
the bug is manifested in deviations from an
expected behaviour
• The purpose of testing is to show that
software works.
• The purpose of testing is to show that
software doesn’t works.
• The purpose of testing is to reduce the risk
of the software.
• The purpose of testing is to know the
productivity and quality of the software
Continued…
1)Test and test design as a part of quality
assurance should also focus on bug
prevention.
2)To the extent testing and testing design
donot prevent the bugs , they should be
able to identify the symptoms caused by the
bugs and finally tests should provide a clear
diagnosis so that the bug can be easily
corrected.
3)Now bug prevention is the testings first
goal.
->a prevented bug is better than
detected or corrected bug . If the bug is
Productivity and quality in
software
• 1)once in a production of software every
manufacturing phase is subjected to quality
control and testing from component source
inspection to final testing before shipping . If
flaws are discovered at any stage , the widget
or the part of it will be discarded or cycled back
for rework and correction.
• 2)Productivity is measured by the sum of costs
of the material,the rework,and the discarded
components and the cost of quality assurance
and testing.
• 3)there is a trade off between quality assurance
costs and manufacturing costs .
• ->insufficient effort is spent in quality
• ->conversely ,if inspection is do good that
all faults are caught as they occur ,
inspection cost will dominate ,and again net
costs will suffer.
4)The manufacturing process designers
attempts to establish a level of testing and
a quality assurance , that minimizes a net
cost for the given quality objective.
5)Productivity and quality assurance for a
manufactured items can be low as 2% for a
consumer products or high as 80% in the
products such as spaceships , nuclear
Goals of the testing
• 1)As we discussed in the 3rd slide that bug
prevention is the primary goal rather than
detecting or correcting.
• 2)unfortunately we cant achieve this ideal
,despite our efforts there will be bugs as we
are human.
• 3)to the extent that testing fails to reach its
primary goal, bug prevention ,it must go to
the secondary goal bug discovery.
• 4)bugs are not always obvious.
• 5)the test design must document
expectations , test procedure in details and
Phases in testers mental life
• While testing any software product
There is an attitudinal progression in
tester , characterized by the following 5
phases.
• Phase 0:There is no difference in testing
and debugging , other than in support
of debugging testing has no purpose.
• Phase 1:the purpose of testing is to
show that software works .
• Phase 2:the purpose of testing is to
show that software does not works.
• Phase 3:the purpose of testing is not
to prove anything , but to reduce the
perceived risk of not working to an
acceptable value.
• Phase 4:testing is not an act , it’s a
mental discipline that results in low
risks software without taking much
testing effort.