Software Testing Concepts

Testing Levels

• Testing levels include unit testing (developer), integration testing, system integration testing (SIT), user acceptance testing (UAT), alpha testing, and beta testing.
• Alpha testing is final product testing on the developing site.
• Beta testing involves giving the client a beta version for testing on their site.
• Non-functional testing includes performance, usability, and scalability testing.

Performance Testing

• Performance testing determines system responsiveness and stability under varying workloads.
• Types include load testing, stress testing, and endurance/soak testing.
• Load testing measures system behavior under a specific load.
• Stress testing finds the system's upper limit capacity.
• Endurance/Soak testing assesses performance over extended time periods.
• Spike testing measures performance under sudden, large increases in user load.

When to Perform Performance Testing

• Performance testing is essential for client-server-based web applications.
• It's not always necessary for applications that aren't client-server based.

Other Testing Techniques

• Black box testing focuses on application behavior (input/output) without internal code inspection.
• White box testing examines internal code structure and implementation.
• Gray box testing combines black and white box techniques.
• Verification ensures the system meets requirements.
• Validation confirms the system meets user needs.
• Static testing examines documents without executing code.
• Dynamic testing runs and evaluates the application.

Quality Control vs. Quality Assurance

• Quality Assurance is proactive, emphasizing process and customer expectations from the start of the project.
• Quality Control is reactive, focusing on deliverables and quality requirements after construction has started.

Test Plan

• The test plan includes scope, environment, entry/exit criteria, and testing objectives.

Retesting vs. Regression

• Retesting confirms a defect fix doesn't introduce new problems.
• Regression testing assesses if a fix or new feature does not break other functions.

Severity vs. Priority

• Severity describes the impact of a defect on application functionality.
• Priority determines how quickly a defect should be fixed based on its business implications.

Defect Reports

• Defect reports should contain descriptive titles, steps to reproduce, environment details, severity, priority, and supporting materials like screenshots.

Test Case Best Practices

• Test cases should be written from an end-user perspective.
• Test cases should be easily understood and executable.
• Test data should be prepared when essential.

Positive vs. Negative Testing

• Positive testing checks if an application behaves correctly under expected conditions.
• Negative testing verifies the application's reaction to invalid or unusual inputs.

Test Suites and Scenarios

• Test suites contain related test cases.
• Test scenarios provide a high-level view of testing conditions.

Bug Life Cycle

• Bugs go through states like new, assigned, open, closed, reopened, deferred, duplicated, or not a bug.

Black Box Testing Types

• Equivalence partitioning, boundary value analysis, and decision tables are black box testing techniques.

Entry and Exit Criteria

• Entry criteria defines prerequisites before testing.
• Exit criteria determines the completion point of testing based on specific conditions.

Release Notes

• Release notes document important aspects of a release (date, features, identified issues, etc.)

When to Stop Testing

• Testing ends when predefined criteria (coverage, deadlines, percentage of cases passed) are met.

SDLC vs. STLC

• SDLC defines the software development process.
• STLC defines the testing phase within SDLC.

Scrum Roles

• Scrum Master facilitates agile practices.
• Product Owner defines product requirements.
• Agile Development Team delivers the product.

Agile Meetings

• Common agile meetings are Sprint Planning, Daily Standup, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retros.

Defect Age

• Defect age is the time difference from detection to fixing.

Mobile Application Testing

• Mobile application testing evaluates functionality, hardware compatibility, and usability.

OS Compatibility

• Testing ensures applications work on different operating system platforms.

Source Code Evaluation

• Source code evaluation resolves code errors and bugs within the application.

Connection Interruptions

• Testing assesses how applications react to network interruptions.

Usability and Functionality

• The application should provide all desired functionalities and be easy-to-use.