- What is 'Software Quality Assurance'?
Software QA involves the entire software development PROCESS
- monitoring and improving the process, making sure that
any agreed-upon standards and procedures are followed, and
ensuring that problems are found and dealt with.
- What is 'Software Testing'?
Testing involves operation of a system or application under
controlled conditions and evaluating the results. Testing
should intentionally attempt to make things go wrong to
determine if things happen when they shouldn't or things
don't happen when they should.
- Does every software project need testers?
It depends on the size and context of the project, the risks,
the development methodology, the skill and experience of
the developers. If the project is a short-term, small, low
risk project, with highly experienced programmers utilizing
thorough unit testing or test-first development, then test
engineers may not be required for the project to succeed.
For non-trivial-size projects or projects with non-trivial
risks, a testing staff is usually necessary. The use of
personnel with specialized skills enhances an organization's
ability to be successful in large, complex, or difficult
tasks. It allows for both a) deeper and stronger skills
and b) the contribution of differing perspectives.
- What is Regression testing?
Retesting of a previously tested program following modification
to ensure that faults have not been introduced or uncovered
as a result of the changes made.
- Why does software have bugs?
Some of the reasons are:
- Miscommunication or no communication.
- Programming errors
- Changing requirements
- Time pressures
- How can new Software QA processes be introduced in
an existing Organization?
It depends on the size of the organization and the risks
involved.
- For small groups or projects, a more ad-hoc process
may be appropriate, depending on the type of customers
and projects.
- By incremental self managed team approaches.
- What is verification? Validation?
Verification typically involves reviews and meetings to
evaluate documents, plans, code, requirements, and specifications.
This can be done with checklists, issues lists, walkthroughs,
and inspection meetings. Validation typically involves actual
testing and takes place after verifications are completed.
- What is a 'walkthrough'? What's an 'inspection'?
A 'walkthrough' is an informal meeting for evaluation or
informational purposes. Little or no preparation is usually
required. An inspection is more formalized than a 'walkthrough',
typically with 3-8 people including a moderator, reader,
and a recorder to take notes. The subject of the inspection
is typically a document such as a requirements spec or a
test plan, and the purpose is to find problems and see what's
missing, not to fix anything.
- What kinds of testing should be considered?
Some of the basic kinds of testing involve:
Blackbox testing, Whitebox testing, Integration testing,
Functional testing, smoke testing, Acceptance testing, Load
testing, Performance testing, User acceptance testing.
- What are 5 common problems in the software development
process?
- Poor requirements
- Unrealistic Schedule
- Inadequate testing
- Changing requirements
- Miscommunication
- What are 5 common solutions to software development
problems?
- Solid requirements
- Realistic Schedule
- Adequate testing
- Clarity of requirements
- Good communication among the Project team
- What is software 'quality'?
Quality software is reasonably bug-free, delivered on time
and within budget, meets requirements and/or expectations,
and is maintainable
- What are some recent major computer system failures
caused by software bugs?
Trading on a major Asian stock exchange was brought to a
halt in November of 2005, reportedly due to an error in
a system software upgrade. A May 2005 newspaper article
reported that a major hybrid car manufacturer had to install
a software fix on 20,000 vehicles due to problems with invalid
engine warning lights and occasional stalling. Media reports
in January of 2005 detailed severe problems with a $170
million high-profile U.S. government IT systems project.
Software testing was one of the five major problem areas
according to a report of the commission reviewing the project.
- What is 'good code'? What is 'good design'?
'Good code' is code that works, is bug free, and is readable
and maintainable. Good internal design is indicated by software
code whose overall structure is clear, understandable, easily
modifiable, and maintainable; is robust with sufficient
error-handling and status logging capability; and works
correctly when implemented. Good functional design is indicated
by an application whose functionality can be traced back
to customer and end-user requirements.
- What is SEI? CMM? CMMI? ISO? Will it help?
These are all standards that determine effectiveness in
delivering quality software. It helps organizations to identify
best practices useful in helping them increase the maturity
of their processes.
- What steps are needed to develop and run software
tests?
- Obtain requirements, functional design, and internal
design specifications and other necessary documents
- Obtain budget and schedule requirements.
- Determine Project context.
- Identify risks.
- Determine testing approaches, methods, test environment,
test data.
- Set Schedules, testing documents.
- Perform tests.
- Perform reviews and evaluations
- Maintain and update documents
- What's a 'test plan'? What's a 'test case'?
A software project test plan is a document that describes
the objectives, scope, approach, and focus of a software
testing effort. A test case is a document that describes
an input, action, or event and an expected response, to
determine if a feature of an application is working correctly.
- What should be done after a bug is found?
The bug needs to be communicated and assigned to developers
that can fix it. After the problem is resolved, fixes should
be re-tested, and determinations made regarding requirements
for regression testing to check that fixes didn't create
problems elsewhere
- Will automated testing tools make testing easier?
It depends on the Project size. For small projects, the
time needed to learn and implement them may not be worth
it unless personnel are already familiar with the tools.
For larger projects, or on-going long-term projects they
can be valuable.
- What's the best way to choose a test automation tool?
Some of the points that can be noted before choosing a tool
would be:
- Analyze the non-automated testing situation to determine
the testing activity that is being performed.
- Testing procedures that are time consuming and repetition.
- Cost/Budget of tool, Training and implementation
factors.
- Evaluation of the chosen tool to explore the benefits.
- How can it be determined if a test environment is appropriate?
Test environment should match exactly all possible hardware,
software, network, data, and usage characteristics of the
expected live environments in which the software will be
used.
- What's the best approach to software test estimation?
The 'best approach' is highly dependent on the particular
organization and project and the experience of the personnel
involved
Some of the following approaches to be considered are:
- Implicit Risk Context Approach
- Metrics-Based Approach
- Test Work Breakdown Approach
- Iterative Approach
- Percentage-of-Development Approach
- What if the software is so buggy it can't really be
tested at all?
The best bet in this situation is for the testers to go
through the process of reporting whatever bugs or blocking-type
problems initially show up, with the focus being on critical
bugs.
- How can it be known when to stop testing?
Common factors in deciding when to stop are:
- Deadlines (release deadlines, testing deadlines, etc.)
- Test cases completed with certain percentage passed
- Test budget depleted
- Coverage of code/functionality/requirements reaches
a specified point
- Bug rate falls below a certain level
- Beta or alpha testing period ends
- What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing?
- Use risk analysis to determine where testing should
be focused.
- Determine the important functionalities to be tested.
- Determine the high risk aspects of the project.
- Prioritize the kinds of testing that need to be performed.
- Determine the tests that will have the best high-risk-coverage
to time-required ratio.
- What if the project isn't big enough to justify extensive
testing?
Consider the impact of project errors, not the size of the
project. The tester might then do ad hoc testing, or write
up a limited test plan based on the risk analysis.
- How does a client/server environment affect testing?
Client/server applications can be quite complex due to the
multiple dependencies among clients, data communications,
hardware, and servers, especially in multi-tier systems.
Load/stress/performance testing may be useful in determining
client/server application limitations and capabilities.
- How can World Wide Web sites be tested?
Some of the considerations might include:
- Testing the expected loads on the server
- Performance expected on the client side
- Testing the required securities to be implemented
and verified.
- Testing the HTML specification, external and internal
links
- cgi programs, applets, javascripts, ActiveX components,
etc. to be maintained, tracked, controlled
- How is testing affected by object-oriented designs?
Well-engineered object-oriented design can make it easier
to trace from code to internal design to functional design
to requirements. If the application was well-designed this
can simplify test design.
- What is Extreme Programming and what's it got to do
with testing?
Extreme Programming (XP) is a software development approach
for small teams on risk-prone projects with unstable requirements.
For testing ('extreme testing', programmers are expected
to write unit and functional test code first - before writing
the application code. Customers are expected to be an integral
part of the project team and to help develop scenarios for
acceptance/black box testing.
- What makes a good Software Test engineer?
A good test engineer has a 'test to break' attitude, an
ability to take the point of view of the customer, a strong
desire for quality, and an attention to detail. Tact and
diplomacy are useful in maintaining a cooperative relationship
with developers, and an ability to communicate with both
technical (developers) and non-technical (customers, management)
people is useful.
- What makes a good Software QA engineer?
They must be able to understand the entire software development
process and how it can fit into the business approach and
goals of the organization. Communication skills and the
ability to understand various sides of issues are important.
In organizations in the early stages of implementing QA
processes, patience and diplomacy are especially needed.
An ability to find problems as well as to see 'what's missing'
is important for inspections and reviews
- What's the role of documentation in QA?
QA practices should be documented such that they are repeatable.
Specifications, designs, business rules, inspection reports,
configurations, code changes, test plans, test cases, bug
reports, user manuals, etc. should all be documented. Change
management for documentation should be used.
- What is a test strategy? What is the purpose of a
test strategy?
It is a plan for conducting the test effort against one
or more aspects of the target system.
A test strategy needs to be able to convince management
and other stakeholders that the approach is sound and achievable,
and it also needs to be appropriate both in terms of the
software product to be tested and the skills of the test
team.
- What information does a test strategy captures?
It captures an explanation of the general approach that
will be used and the specific types, techniques, styles
of testing
- What is test data?
It is a collection of test input values that are consumed
during the execution of a test, and expected results referenced
for comparative purposes during the execution of a test
- What is Unit testing?
It is implemented against the smallest testable element
(units) of the software, and involves testing the internal
structure such as logic and dataflow, and the unit's function
and observable behaviors
- How can the test results be used in testing?
Test Results are used to record the detailed findings of
the test effort and to subsequently calculate the different
key measures of testing
- What is Developer testing?
Developer testing denotes the aspects of test design and
implementation most appropriate for the team of developers
to undertake.
- What is independent testing?
Independent testing denotes the test design and implementation
most appropriately performed by someone who is independent
from the team of developers.
- What is Integration testing?
Integration testing is performed to ensure that the components
in the implementation model operate properly when combined
to execute a use case
- What is System testing?
A series of tests designed to ensure that the modified program
interacts correctly with other system components. These
test procedures typically are performed by the system maintenance
staff in their development library.
- What is Acceptance testing?
User acceptance testing is the final test action taken before
deploying the software. The goal of acceptance testing is
to verify that the software is ready, and that it can be
used by end users to perform those functions and tasks for
which the software was built
- What is the role of a Test Manager?
The Test Manager role is tasked with the overall responsibility
for the test effort's success. The role involves quality
and test advocacy, resource planning and management, and
resolution of issues that impede the test effort
- What is the role of a Test Analyst?
The Test Analyst role is responsible for identifying and
defining the required tests, monitoring detailed testing
progress and results in each test cycle and evaluating the
overall quality experienced as a result of testing activities.
The role typically carries the responsibility for appropriately
representing the needs of stakeholders that do not have
direct or regular representation on the project.
- What is the role of a Test Designer?
The Test Designer role is responsible for defining the test
approach and ensuring its successful implementation. The
role involves identifying the appropriate techniques, tools
and guidelines to implement the required tests, and to give
guidance on the corresponding resources requirements for
the test effort
- What are the roles and responsibilities of a Tester?
The Tester role is responsible for the core activities of
the test effort, which involves conducting the necessary
tests and logging the outcomes of that testing. The tester
is responsible for identifying the most appropriate implementation
approach for a given test, implementing individual tests,
setting up and executing the tests, logging outcomes and
verifying test execution, analyzing and recovering from
execution errors.
- What are the skills required to be a good tester?
A tester should have knowledge of testing approaches and
techniques, diagnostic and problem-solving skills, knowledge
of the system or application being tested, and knowledge
of networking and system architecture
- What is test coverage?
Test coverage is the measurement of testing completeness,
and it's based on the coverage of testing expressed by the
coverage of test requirements and test cases or by the coverage
of executed code.
- What is a test script?
The step-by-step instructions that realize a test, enabling
its execution. Test Scripts may take the form of either
documented textual instructions that are executed manually
or computer readable instructions that enable automated
test execution.
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