types of testing

[yummy1984]

Software Testing Types:
Black box testing - Internal system design is not considered in this type of testing. Tests are based on requirements and functionality.
White box testing - This testing is based on knowledge of the internal logic of an application’s code. Also known as Glass box Testing. Internal software and code working should be known for this type of testing. Tests are based on coverage of code statements, branches, paths, conditions.
Unit testing - Testing of individual software components or modules. Typically done by the programmer and not by testers, as it requires detailed knowledge of the internal program design and code. may require developing test driver modules or test harnesses.
Incremental integration testing - Bottom up approach for testing i.e continuous testing of an application as new functionality is added; Application functionality and modules should be independent enough to test separately. done by programmers or by testers.
Integration testing - Testing of integrated modules to verify combined functionality after integration. Modules are typically code modules, individual applications, client and server applications on a network, etc. This type of testing is especially relevant to client/server and distributed systems.
Functional testing - This type of testing ignores the internal parts and focus on the output is as per requirement or not. Black-box type testing geared to functional requirements of an application.
System testing - Entire system is tested as per the requirements. Black-box type testing that is based on overall requirements specifications, covers all combined parts of a system.
End-to-end testing - Similar to system testing, involves testing of a complete application environment in a situation that mimics real-world use, such as interacting with a database, using network communications, or interacting with other hardware, applications, or systems if appropriate.
Sanity testing - Testing to determine if a new software version is performing well enough to accept it for a major testing effort. If application is crashing for initial use then system is not stable enough for further testing and build or application is assigned to fix.
Regression testing - Testing the application as a whole for the modification in any module or functionality. Difficult to cover all the system in regression testing so typically automation tools are used for these testing types.
Acceptance testing -Normally this type of testing is done to verify if system meets the customer specified requirements. User or customer do this testing to determine whether to accept application.
Load testing - Its a performance testing to check system behavior under load. Testing an application under heavy loads, such as testing of a web site under a range of loads to determine at what point the system’s response time degrades or fails.
Stress testing - System is stressed beyond its specifications to check how and when it fails. Performed under heavy load like putting large number beyond storage capacity, complex database queries, continuous input to system or database load.
Performance testing - Term often used interchangeably with ’stress’ and ‘load’ testing. To check whether system meets performance requirements. Used different performance and load tools to do this.
Usability testing - User-friendliness check. Application flow is tested, Can new user understand the application easily, Proper help documented whenever user stuck at any point. Basically system navigation is checked in this testing.
Install/uninstall testing - Tested for full, partial, or upgrade install/uninstall processes on different operating systems under different hardware, software environment.
Recovery testing - Testing how well a system recovers from crashes, hardware failures, or other catastrophic problems.
Security testing - Can system be penetrated by any hacking way. Testing how well the system protects against unauthorized internal or external access. Checked if system, database is safe from external attacks.
Compatibility testing - Testing how well software performs in a particular hardware/software/operating system/network environment and different combination s of above.
Comparison testing - Comparison of product strengths and weaknesses with previous versions or other similar products.
Alpha testing - In house virtual user environment can be created for this type of testing. Testing is done at the end of development. Still minor design changes may be made as a result of such testing.
Beta testing - Testing typically done by end-users or others. Final testing before releasing application for commercial purpose.

 

[yummy1984]

BLACK BOX TESTING

BLACK BOX TESTING


Black Box Testing is testing without knowledge of the internal workings of the item being tested. For example, when black box testing is applied to software engineering, the tester would only know the "legal" inputs and what the expected outputs should be, but not how the program actually arrives at those outputs.
It is because of this that black box testing can be considered testing with respect to the specifications, no other knowledge of the program is necessary. For this reason, the tester and the programmer can be independent of one another, avoiding programmer bias toward his own work.

For this testing, test groups are often used, "Test groups are sometimes called professional idiots...people who are good at designing incorrect data."

1 Also, do to the nature of black box testing, the test planning can begin as soon as the specifications are written. The opposite of this would be glass box testing, where test data are derived from direct examination of the code to be tested. For glass box testing, the test cases cannot be determined until the code has actually been written. Both of these testing techniques have advantages and disadvantages, but when combined, they help to ensure thorough testing of the product.

Advantages of Black Box Testing



• more effective on larger units of code than glass box testing
• tester needs no knowledge of implementation, including specific programming languages
• tester and programmer are independent of each other
• tests are done from a user's point of view
• will help to expose any ambiguities or inconsistencies in the specifications
• test cases can be designed as soon as the specifications are complete

Disadvantages of Black Box Testing
•


only a small number of possible inputs can actually be tested, to test every possible input stream would take nearly forever
• without clear and concise specifications, test cases are hard to design
• there may be unnecessary repetition of test inputs if the tester is not informed of test cases the programmer has already tried
• may leave many program paths untested
• cannot be directed toward specific segments of code which may be very complex (and therefore more error prone)
• most testing related research has been directed toward glass box testing

Testing Strategies/Techniques•



black box testing should make use of randomly generated inputs (only a test range should be specified by the tester), to eliminate any guess work by the tester as to the methods of the function
• data outside of the specified input range should be tested to check the robustness of the program
• boundary cases should be tested (top and bottom of specified range) to make sure the highest and lowest allowable inputs produce proper output
• the number zero should be tested when numerical data is to be input
• stress testing should be performed (try to overload the program with inputs to see where it reaches its maximum capacity), especially with real time systems
• crash testing should be performed to see what it takes to bring the system down
• test monitoring tools should be used whenever possible to track which tests have already been performed and the outputs of these tests to avoid repetition and to aid in the software maintenance
• other functional testing techniques include: transaction testing, syntax testing, domain testing, logic testing, and state testing.
• finite state machine models can be used as a guide to design functional tests
•



According to Beizer 2 the following is a general order by which tests should be designed:



1. Clean tests against requirements.
2. Additional structural tests for branch coverage, as needed.
3. Additional tests for data-flow coverage as needed.
4. Domain tests not covered by the above.
5. Special techniques as appropriate--syntax, loop, state, etc.
6. Any dirty tests not covered by the above.


In this technique, we do not use the code to determine a test suite; rather, knowing the problem that we're trying to solve, we come up with four types of test data:

1. Easy-to-compute data
2. Typical data
3. Boundary / extreme data
4. Bogus data


For example, suppose we are testing a function that uses the quadratic formula to determine the two roots of a second-degree polynomial ax2+bx+c. For simplicity, assume that we are going to work only with real numbers, and print an error message if it turns out that the two roots are complex numbers (numbers involving the square root of a negative number).
We can come up with test data for each of the four cases, based on values of the polynomial's discriminant (b2-4ac):
Easy data (discriminant is a perfect square):
a b c Roots
1 2 1 -1, -1
1 3 2 -1, -2
Typical data (discriminant is positive):
a b c Roots
1 4 1 -3.73205, -0.267949
2 4 1 -1.70711, -0.292893
Boundary / extreme data (discriminant is zero):
a b c Roots
2 -4 2 1, 1
2 -8 8 2, 2
Bogus data (discriminant is negative, or a is zero):
a b c Roots
1 1 1 square root of negative number
0 1 1 division by zero
As with glass-box testing, you should test your code with each set of test data. If the answers match, then your code passes the black-box test.

 

[jitendra05]

Software Testing Types:
Black box testing - Internal system design is not considered in this type of testing. Tests are based on requirements and functionality.
White box testing - This testing is based on knowledge of the internal logic of an application’s code. Also known as Glass box Testing. Internal software and code working should be known for this type of testing. Tests are based on coverage of code statements, branches, paths, conditions.
Unit testing - Testing of individual software components or modules. Typically done by the programmer and not by testers, as it requires detailed knowledge of the internal program design and code. may require developing test driver modules or test harnesses.
Incremental integration testing - Bottom up approach for testing i.e continuous testing of an application as new functionality is added; Application functionality and modules should be independent enough to test separately. done by programmers or by testers.
Integration testing - Testing of integrated modules to verify combined functionality after integration. Modules are typically code modules, individual applications, client and server applications on a network, etc. This type of testing is especially relevant to client/server and distributed systems.
Functional testing - This type of testing ignores the internal parts and focus on the output is as per requirement or not. Black-box type testing geared to functional requirements of an application.
System testing - Entire system is tested as per the requirements. Black-box type testing that is based on overall requirements specifications, covers all combined parts of a system.
End-to-end testing - Similar to system testing, involves testing of a complete application environment in a situation that mimics real-world use, such as interacting with a database, using network communications, or interacting with other hardware, applications, or systems if appropriate.
Sanity testing - Testing to determine if a new software version is performing well enough to accept it for a major testing effort. If application is crashing for initial use then system is not stable enough for further testing and build or application is assigned to fix.
Regression testing - Testing the application as a whole for the modification in any module or functionality. Difficult to cover all the system in regression testing so typically automation tools are used for these testing types.
Acceptance testing -Normally this type of testing is done to verify if system meets the customer specified requirements. User or customer do this testing to determine whether to accept application.
Load testing - Its a performance testing to check system behavior under load. Testing an application under heavy loads, such as testing of a web site under a range of loads to determine at what point the system’s response time degrades or fails.
Stress testing - System is stressed beyond its specifications to check how and when it fails. Performed under heavy load like putting large number beyond storage capacity, complex database queries, continuous input to system or database load.
Performance testing - Term often used interchangeably with ’stress’ and ‘load’ testing. To check whether system meets performance requirements. Used different performance and load tools to do this.
Usability testing - User-friendliness check. Application flow is tested, Can new user understand the application easily, Proper help documented whenever user stuck at any point. Basically system navigation is checked in this testing.
Install/uninstall testing - Tested for full, partial, or upgrade install/uninstall processes on different operating systems under different hardware, software environment.
Recovery testing - Testing how well a system recovers from crashes, hardware failures, or other catastrophic problems.
Security testing - Can system be penetrated by any hacking way. Testing how well the system protects against unauthorized internal or external access. Checked if system, database is safe from external attacks.
Compatibility testing - Testing how well software performs in a particular hardware/software/operating system/network environment and different combination s of above.
Comparison testing - Comparison of product strengths and weaknesses with previous versions or other similar products.
Alpha testing - In house virtual user environment can be created for this type of testing. Testing is done at the end of development. Still minor design changes may be made as a result of such testing.
Beta testing - Testing typically done by end-users or others. Final testing before releasing application for commercial purpose.

Hey friend, thanks for explaining the types of various software testing types and it would be helpful for many software engineering students. Well, software testing is a procedure of performing a program or software with the purpose of getting the software bugs. For more detailed information, you can download my presentation.