ISEB Foundation Certificate Course in Software Testing

Study Notes

Testing involves principles, lifecycle, static testing, dynamic testing, management, and tools and techniques.
The lifecycle of testing includes models for testing, economics of testing, high-level test planning, component testing, integration testing, system testing, acceptance testing, and maintenance testing.

The V-Model is a testing lifecycle that includes business requirements, project specification, system specification, design specification, code, component testing, integration testing in the small, integration testing in the large, system testing, acceptance testing, and maintenance testing.
The V-Model can be implemented with late test design or early test design.
Early test design finds faults early, reduces fault multiplication, and helps to build quality.

Incremental integration involves testing components in a baseline, then adding components to the baseline.
Advantages of incremental integration include easier fault location and fix, easier recovery from disaster, and tested interfaces.

Top-down integration involves testing components from top to bottom, using stubs to simulate missing components.
Advantages of top-down integration include critical control structure tested first, demonstrating system early, and ease of testing.
Disadvantages of top-down integration include the need for stubs, detail left until last, and difficulty in seeing detailed output.

Stubs are used to simulate missing components in top-down integration.
Stubs can print/display name, reply to calling module, compute reply, prompt for reply from tester, search list of replies, or provide timing delay.

Bottom-up integration involves testing components from bottom to top, using drivers to call the baseline configuration.
Advantages of bottom-up integration include lowest levels tested first, good for testing interfaces to external environment, and visibility of detail.
Disadvantages of bottom-up integration include no working system until last baseline, need for both drivers and stubs, and major control problems found last.

Minimum capability integration involves testing components in a baseline, with conversion software needed to exchange data formats.
Baselines are built incrementally, with each baseline adding new components.

User acceptance testing is the final stage of validation.
Users perform or are closely involved in testing, which is based on their business processes.
Final user sign-off is required.
Approach involves a mixture of scripted and unscripted testing, with the 'Model Office' concept sometimes used.

Users know what really happens in business situations, complexity of business relationships, how users would do their work using the system, and variants to standard tasks.
Users should be involved in testing to ensure that the system meets their needs.