Software Testing Glossary - Foundation Level

The number of defects found in a component or system divided by its size.

A tool used for tracking defects throughout the software development process.

Different categories or types of defects.

A software component that takes care of control and/or calling another component.

Testing that involves running the software to see how it works.

The ability of a software product to achieve its intended result.

The ability of a software product to perform well with the resources it uses.

Formal or informal testing done during the implementation phase by developers.

The consequence or outcome of running a test. This includes results displayed on screens, data changes, reports, and messages sent out.

A defined set of testing activities that need to be repeated when testing resumes after a pause.

The process of evaluating a product or project by comparing it to planned results. It helps identify deviations and suggests improvements.

The process of identifying potential problems in a project or product and understanding their severity by assessing their likelihood and impact.

The process of identifying and analyzing potential problems in a project or product to determine their level of risk. It typically involves assigning likelihood and impact ratings.

The importance of a risk, determined by its potential impact and how likely it is to happen. This helps decide how much testing is needed.

The estimated probability that a risk will actually occur. This tells you how likely a potential problem is to become real.

A systematic approach to identifying, analyzing, prioritizing, and managing risks. It helps control potential problems.

A method to make decisions and implement protective measures to minimize or manage risks to acceptable levels.

An approach to testing that focuses on finding and managing product risks. It uses risk levels to guide the testing process.

The ability of a system or component to function correctly in the face of unexpected inputs or challenging conditions.

The root cause of a defect is the underlying issue that needs to be fixed to prevent similar errors.

The software's ability to protect against unauthorized access to programs and data, whether accidental or intentional.

Testing performed to assess the software's security vulnerabilities and weaknesses.

A tool specifically designed for testing security features and identifying vulnerabilities.

The impact a defect has on the development or operation of a system, ranging from minor to critical.

A transition between two states of a component or system.

A black-box testing technique where test cases are designed to execute valid and invalid state transitions.

The smallest indivisible unit of execution in a programming language; often a single line of code.

The percentage of executable statements in a program that have been covered by a test suite.

Analyzing software development artifacts like requirements or code without actually running them.

A tool used to perform static analysis on software development artifacts.

Testing of a software development artifact like requirements or code without actually running it.

A type of performance testing that pushes a system beyond its normal capacity to see how it handles stress.

The process of verifying an integrated system meets specified requirements.

All documents from which the requirements of a component or system can be inferred.

A set of test cases.

A structured testing methodology for improving the testing process.

The implementation of the test strategy for a specific project, including decisions, goals, risk assessment, test design techniques, exit criteria, and test types.

A set of input values, preconditions, expected results, and postconditions designed for a specific objective or test condition.

A statement of test objectives and ideas about how to test, used in exploratory testing.

The ability to identify related items in documentation and software, such as requirements with associated tests.

Testing to determine the extent to which the software product is understood, easy to learn, easy to operate and attractive to the users under specified conditions.

Acceptance testing carried out by future users in a (simulated) operational environment focusing on user requirements and needs.

A framework to describe the software development lifecycle activities from requirements specification to maintenance.

The capability of the software product to enable modified software to be tested.

A tool that provides an environment for unit or component testing in which a component can be tested in isolation or with suitable stubs and drivers. It also provides other support for the developer, such as debugging capabilities.