1.

Interesting Information

What are some recent major computers system failures caused by software bugs?

In January of 2001 newspapers reported that a major European railroad was hit by
the aftereffects of the Y2K bug. The company found that many of their newer trains
would not run due to their inability to recognize the date '31/12/2000'; the trains were
started by altering the control system's date settings.

News reports in September of 2000 told of a software vendor settling a lawsuit

with a large mortgage lender; the vendor had reportedly delivered an online mortgage
processing system that did not meet specifications, was delivered late, and didn't work.

In early 2000, major problems were reported with a new computer system in a
large suburban U.S. public school district with 100,000+ students; problems included
10,000 erroneous report cards and students left stranded by failed class registration
systems; the district's CIO was fired. The school district decided to reinstate it's original
25-year old system for at least a year until the bugs were worked out of the new system
by the software vendors.

In October of 1999 the $125 million NASA Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft was
believed to be lost in space due to a simple data conversion error. It was determined that
the spacecraft software used certain data in English units that should have been in metric
units. Among other tasks, the orbiter was to serve as a communications relay for the Mars
Polar Lander mission, which failed for unknown reasons in December 1999. Several
investigating panels were convened to determine the process failures that allowed the
error to go undetected.

Bugs in software supporting a large commercial high-speed data network affected

70,000 business customers over a period of 8 days in August of 1999. Among those
affected was the electronic trading system of the largest U.S. futures exchange, which
was shut down for most of a week as a result of the outages.

In April of 1999 a software bug caused the failure of a $1.2 billion military
satellite launch, the costliest unmanned accident in the history of Cape Canaveral
launches. The failure was the latest in a string of launch failures, triggering a complete
military and industry review of U.S. space launch programs, including software
integration and testing processes. Congressional oversight hearings were requested.

A small town in Illinois received an unusually large monthly electric bill of $7

million in March of 1999. This was about 700 times larger than it's normal bill. It turned
out to be due to bugs in new software that had been purchased by the local Power
Company to deal with Y2K software issues.
 In early 1999 a major computer game company recalled all copies of a popular
new product due to software problems. The company made a public apology for releasing
a product before it was ready.

The computer system of a major online U.S. stock trading service failed during
trading hours several times over a period of days in February of 1999 according to
nationwide news reports. The problem was reportedly due to bugs in a software upgrade
intended to speed online trade confirmations.

In April of 1998 a major U.S. data communications network failed for 24 hours,
crippling a large part of some U.S. credit card transaction authorization systems as well
as other large U.S. bank, retail, and government data systems. The cause was eventually
traced to a software bug.

January 1998 news reports told of software problems at a major U.S.

telecommunications company that resulted in no charges for long distance calls for a
month for 400,000 customers. The problem went undetected until customers called up
with questions about their bills.

In November of 1997 the stock of a major health industry company dropped 60%
due to reports of failures in computer billing systems, problems with a large database
conversion, and inadequate software testing. It was reported that more than $100,000,000
in receivables had to be written off and that multi-million dollar fines were levied on the
company by government agencies.

A retail store chain filed suit in August of 1997 against a transaction processing
system vendor (not a credit card company) due to the software's inability to handle credit
cards with year 2000 expiration dates.

In August of 1997 one of the leading consumer credit reporting companies

reportedly shut down their new public web site after less than two days of operation due
to software problems. The new site allowed web site visitors instant access, for a small
fee, to their personal credit reports. However, a number of initial users ended up viewing
each others' reports instead of their own, resulting in irate customers and nationwide
publicity. The problem was attributed to "...unexpectedly high demand from consumers
and faulty software that routed the files to the wrong computers."

In November of 1996, newspapers reported that software bugs caused the 411
telephone information system of one of the U.S. RBOC's to fail for most of a day. Most
of the 2000 operators had to search through phone books instead of using their
13,000,000-listing database. The bugs were introduced by new software modifications
and the problem software had been installed on both the production and backup systems.
A spokesman for the software vendor reportedly stated that 'It had nothing to do with the
integrity of the software. It was human error.'
 On June 4 1996 the first flight of the European Space Agency's new Ariane 5
rocket failed shortly after launching, resulting in an estimated uninsured loss of a half
billion dollars. It was reportedly due to the lack of exception handling of a floating-point
error in a conversion from a 64-bit integer to a 16-bit signed integer.

Software bugs caused the bank accounts of 823 customers of a major U.S. bank to
be credited with $924,844,208.32 each in May of 1996, according to newspaper reports.
The American Bankers Association claimed it was the largest such error in banking
history. A bank spokesman said the programming errors were corrected and all funds
were recovered.

Software bugs in a Soviet early-warning monitoring system nearly brought on

nuclear war 1983, according to news reports in early 1999. The software was supposed to
filter out false missile detections caused by Soviet satellites picking up sunlight
reflections off cloud-tops, but failed to do so. Disaster was averted when a Soviet
commander, based on a what he said was a '...funny feeling in my gut', decided the
apparent missile attack was a false alarm. The filtering software code was rewritten.
2. What is Software Testing?
Software Testing is concerned with verifying that a correct solution to the problem
embodied in the statement of the requirements has been developed. Testing is a multi-
stage process that consists of activities for validating the software product, from the most
primitive elements up to the fully integrated system. This area includes activities such as
unit testing, integration testing, system testing, performance testing, and acceptance
testing.

3. What is testing?
The process of operating a system or component under specified conditions, observing or
recording the results, and making an evaluation of some aspect of the system or
component

4. What is Unit Testing?

Unit testing involves testing a program unit, typically developed by a single individual, to
determine that it is free of data, logic, or standards errors.

5. What is Integration Testing?

Integration Testing means validating the software components, which have been unit
tested separately – to see to it that they interact correctly when they are put together to
perform a higher order function.

6. What is System Testing?

System Testing is concerned with knowledge about validating the specified functional
requirements of a system. This unit includes knowledge about techniques to design and
enact an independent testing process of all of the system’s functions described in the
software requirement specification.

7. What is Performance Testing?

Performance Testing means validating the performance requirements of a system. This
unit includes knowledge about techniques to instrument performance measures like
logging, event counts, event duration, and sampling. It also includes knowledge about
methods for tuning a system for optimum saturation, load, and throughput threshold.

8. What is Acceptance Testing?

Acceptance testing means validating the functional and non- functional requirements of a
purchased or acquired system. This unit includes knowledge about techniques for using
the contract, the statement of work, the software requirements specification, and the
request for proposal to ensure that the delivered system meets all of the requirements (as
perceived by the purchasing or acquiring organization).

9. What is Installation Testing?

Installation testing is concerned with knowledge about validating that a system will
operate under all configuration possibilities. This unit includes knowledge about
techniques to perform configuration command checking in terms of rotation, and
permutation of all physical, logical, and functional entities of a system.
10. What is Test documentation?
Test Documentation implies knowledge about test plan preparation, test design
specification, test case specification, test procedures specification, test item transmittal
reports, test log specification, test incident reports, and test summary reports.

11. What is Test Coverage?

Test coverage is the percentage of all the known tests that should be attempted and
completed.

12. Tests Based on Requirements

One of the first sources of tests for the test effort should be the requirement. If the
requirements are prioritized, this automatically dictates the rank of the tests that are
designed to verify the requirements and the amount of test coverage that will be provided.
Ranking provides a valuable tool for designers to pass on their knowledge and
assumptions of the relative importance of various features in the system.

1.1 What does tests based on Analytical Methods mean?

These are tests determined through systematic analysis of the System Requirements, User
Requirements, Design Documents and code, or the system itself. There are many types of
analysis techniques and methods. Some of them are as follows:
• Inspections, Reviews and Walkthroughs
• Paths Analysis
• Data Analysis
• Environment Catalog

1.1.1 What are Inspections, Reviews and Walkthroughs

Inspection is a testing process that tests ideas which model a system. Inspections are used
to measure and improve the quality of the paper documentation, or the ideas.

Reviews also called Peer Reviews, are usually conducted on project documentation early
in the development cycle. The contents of the documents are evaluated by the reviewers
from various groups, each with their own perspective, expectations, and knowledge base.

Reviews are good at:

Reviews are very good at uncovering possible logic flaws, un-addressed logic paths and
dependencies. All of which require testing and will probably generate tests that will be
run against the system. Tests determined through reviews can be added to the test
inventory in the same way as any other tests. Typically, though, reviews, like inspections
are conducted on the paper documentation of a project.

Walkthroughs are usually groups sessions that trace processes, both existing and
proposed, in order to educate everyone of the current thinking. The documentation used
in a walkthrough may be high level logic flows. Walkthroughs are also sources of tests
for the test inventory.
13. What is Path Analysis / Testing?
There are many published techniques for conducting path analysis and path testing, also
called white box testing. This type of analysis is systematic and quantifiable.

14. What is Data Analysis / Data Testing?

Data analysis or data testing is also called black box testing and behavioral testing. This
type of analysis is systematic and quantifiable.

15. What is a Test Inventory?

A well-crafted test inventory, like a grocery list, is as concise as possible. Ideally, each
item should fit on one line. All the description and detailed specifics of the test exist but
are stored elsewhere, usually later in the test agreement or test plan. Each main topic or
test category will have more detailed layers of tests beneath it.

16. 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. It is oriented to
'prevention'.

17. What is 'Software Testing'?

Testing involves operation of a system or application under controlled conditions and
evaluating the result. The controlled conditions should include both normal and abnormal
conditions. 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. It is oriented
to 'detection'.

18. What is the difference between Quality Assurance and Quality Control?

19. Why is it often hard for management to get serious about quality assurance?
Solving problems is a high-visibility process; preventing problems is low-visibility.

20. Why does software have bugs?

• miscommunication or no communication - as to specifics of what an application
should or shouldn't do (the application's requirements).
• software complexity - the complexity of current software applications can be difficult
to comprehend for anyone without experience in modern-day software development.
• Programming mistakes
• poorly documented code - it's tough to maintain and modify code that is badly written
or poorly documented; the result is bugs. In many organizations management
provides no incentive for programmers to document their code or write clear,
understandable code.

21. How can new Software QA processes be introduced in an existing organization?

A lot depends on the size of the organization and the risks involved. For large
organizations with high-risk (in terms of lives or property) projects, serious management
buy-in is required and a formalized QA process is necessary. Where the risk is lower,
management and organizational buy-in and QA implementation may be a slower, step-at-
a-time process. QA processes should be balanced with productivity so as to keep
bureaucracy from getting out of hand. For small groups or projects, a more ad-hoc
process may be appropriate, depending on the type of customers and projects. A lot will
depend on team leads or managers, feedback to developers, and ensuring adequate
communications among customers, managers, developers, and testers.

22. What is verification?

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.

23. What is Validation?

Validation typically involves actual testing and takes place after verifications are
completed.

24. What is a 'walkthrough'?

A 'walkthrough' is an informal meeting for evaluation or informational purposes. Little or
no preparation is usually required.

25. What's an 'inspection'?

An inspection is more formalized than a 'walkthrough', typically with 3-8 people
including a moderator, reader (the author of whatever is being reviewed), 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. Attendees should prepare for this type of meeting by reading thru the
document; most problems will be found during this preparation. The result of the
inspection meeting should be a written report. Thorough preparation for inspections is
difficult, painstaking work, but is one of the most cost effective methods of ensuring
quality.

26. What kinds of testing should be considered?

What is Black box Testing?

Black box testing - not based on any knowledge of internal design or code. Tests are
based on requirements and functionality.

What is White Box Testing?

White box testing - based on knowledge of the internal logic of an application's code.
Tests are based on coverage of code statements, branches, paths, conditions. unit testing -
the most 'micro' scale of testing; to test particular functions or code modules. Typically
done by the programmer and not by testers, as it requires detailed knowledge of the
internal program design and code. Not always easily done unless the application has a
well-designed architecture with tight code; may require developing test driver modules or
test harnesses.

What is Incremental integration Testing?

incremental integration testing - continuous testing of an application as new functionality
is added; requires that various aspects of an application's functionality be independent
enough to work separately before all parts of the program are completed, or that test
drivers be developed as needed; done by programmers or by testers.

What is Integration Testing?

integration testing - testing of combined parts of an application to determine if they
function together correctly. The 'parts' can be 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.

What is functional testing?

functional testing - black-box type testing geared to functional requirements of an
application.

What is System Testing ?

system testing - black-box type testing that is based on overall requirements
specifications.

What is end-to-end testing?

end-to-end testing - similar to system testing; the 'macro' end of the test scale; 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.

What is Sanity Testing?

sanity testing - typically an initial testing effort to determine if a new software version is
performing well enough to accept it for a major testing effort. For example, if the new
software is crashing systems every 5 minutes, bogging down systems to a crawl, or
destroying databases, the software may not be in a 'sane' enough condition to warrant
further testing in its current state.

What is Regression Testing?

regression testing - re-testing after fixes or modifications of the software or its
environment. It can be difficult to determine how much re-testing is needed, especially
near the end of the development cycle. Automated testing tools can be especially useful
for this type of testing.

What is acceptance Testing?

acceptance testing - final testing based on specifications of the end-user or customer, or
based on use by end-users/customers over some limited period of time.
What is Load Testing?
load testing - 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.

What is Stress Testing?

stress testing - term often used interchangeably with 'load' and 'performance' testing. Also
used to describe such tests as system functional testing while under unusually heavy
loads, heavy repetition of certain actions or inputs, input of large numerical values, large
complex queries to a database system, etc.

What is performance testing?

performance testing - term often used interchangeably with 'stress' and 'load' testing.
Ideally 'performance' testing (and any other 'type' of testing) is defined in requirements
documentation or QA or Test Plans.

What is usability testing?

Usability testing - testing for 'user-friendliness'. Clearly this is subjective, and will depend
on the targeted end-user or customer. User interviews, surveys, video recording of user
sessions, and other techniques can be used. Programmers and testers are usually not
appropriate as usability testers.

What is install/uninstall testing?

install/uninstall testing - testing of full, partial, or upgrade install/uninstall processes.

What is recovery testing?

recovery testing - testing how well a system recovers from crashes, hardware failures, or
other catastrophic problems.

What is security testing?

security testing - testing how well the system protects against unauthorized internal or
external access, willful damage, etc; may require sophisticated testing techniques.

What is compatability testing?

compatability testing - testing how well software performs in a particular
hardware/software/operating system/network/etc. environment.

What is Exploratory Testing?

exploratory testing - often taken to mean a creative, informal software test that is not
based on formal test plans or test cases; testers may be learning the software as they test
it.

What is ad-hoc testing?

ad-hoc testing - similar to exploratory testing, but often taken to mean that the testers
have significant understanding of the software before testing it.

What is user acceptance testing?

user acceptance testing - determining if software is satisfactory to an end-user or
customer.

What is comparison testing?

comparison testing - comparing software weaknesses and strengths to competing
products.

What is alpha testing?

alpha testing - testing of an application when development is nearing completion; minor
design changes may still be made as a result of such testing.

What is beta testing?

beta testing - testing when development and testing are essentially completed and final
bugs and problems need to be found before final release.

What is mutation testing?

mutation testing - a method for determining if a set of test data or test cases is useful, by
deliberately introducing various code changes ('bugs') and retesting with the original test
data/cases to determine if the 'bugs' are detected. Proper implementation requires large
computational resources.

27. What are 5 common problems in the software development process?

poor requirements - if requirements are unclear, incomplete, too general, or not testable,
there will be problems.
unrealistic schedule - if too much work is crammed in too little time, problems are
inevitable.
inadequate testing - no one will know whether or not the program is any good until the
customer complains or systems crash.
featuritis - requests to pile on new features after development is underway; extremely
common.
miscommunication - if developers don't know what's needed or customer's have
erroneous expectations, problems are guaranteed.

28. What are 5 common solutions to software development problems?

solid requirements - clear, complete, detailed, cohesive, attainable, testable requirements

that are agreed to by all players. Use prototypes to help nail down requirements.
realistic schedules - allow adequate time for planning, design, testing, bug fixing, re-
testing, changes, and documentation; personnel should be able to complete the project
without burning out.
adequate testing - start testing early on, re-test after fixes or changes, plan for adequate
time for testing and bug-fixing.
stick to initial requirements as much as possible - be prepared to defend against changes
and additions once development has begun, and be prepared to explain consequences. If
changes are necessary, they should be adequately reflected in related schedule changes. If
possible, use rapid prototyping during the design phase so that customers can see what to
expect. This will provide them a higher comfort level with their requirements decisions
and minimize changes later on.
communication - require walkthroughs and inspections when appropriate; make extensive
use of group communication tools - e-mail, groupware, networked bug-tracking tools and
change management tools, intranet capabilities, etc.; insure that documentation is
available and
up-to-date - preferably electronic, not paper; promote teamwork and cooperation; use
protoypes early on so that customers' expectations are clarified.

29. What is software 'quality'?

Quality software is reasonably bug-free, delivered on time and within budget, meets
requirements and/or expectations, and is maintainable.

However, quality is obviously a subjective term. It will depend on who the 'customer' is
and their overall influence in the scheme of things. A wide-angle view of the 'customers'
of a software development project might include end-users, customer acceptance testers,
customer contract officers, customer management, the development organization's
management/accountants/testers/salespeople, future software maintenance engineers,
stockholders, magazine columnists, etc. Each type of 'customer' will have their own slant
on 'quality'
- the accounting department might define quality in terms of profits while an end-user
might define quality as user-friendly and bug-free.

30. What is SEI? CMM? ISO? IEEE? ANSI? Will it help?

SEI
SEI = 'Software Engineering Institute' at Carnegie-Mellon University; initiated by the
U.S. Defense Department to help improve software development processes.

CMM
CMM = 'Capability Maturity Model', developed by the SEI. It's a model of 5 levels of
organizational 'maturity' that determine effectiveness in delivering quality software. It is
geared to large organizations such as large U.S. Defense Department contractors.
However, many of the QA processes involved are appropriate to any organization, and if
reasonably applied can be helpful.

Organizations can receive CMM ratings by undergoing assessments by qualified auditors.

How many Levels are there in CMM?

Level 1 - characterized by chaos, periodic panics, and heroic efforts required by

individuals to successfully complete projects. Few if any processes in place, successes
may not be repeatable.
Level 2 - software project tracking, requirements management, realistic planning, and
configuration management processes are in place; successful practices can be repeated.

Level 3 - standard software development and maintenance processes are integrated

throughout an organization; a Software Engineering Process Group is is in place to
oversee software processes, and training programs are used to ensure understanding and
compliance.

Level 4 - metrics are used to track productivity, processes, and products. Project
performance is predictable, and quality is consistently high.

Level 5 - the focus is on continouous process improvement. The impact of new processes
and technologies can be predicted and effectively implemented when required.

What is ISO?
ISO = 'International Organisation for Standards' - The ISO 9001, 9002, and 9003
standards concern quality systems that are assessed by outside auditors, and they apply to
many kinds of production and manufacturing organizations, not just software. The most
comprehensive is 9001, and this is the one most often used by software development
organizations. It covers documentation, design, development, production, testing,
installation, servicing, and other processes. ISO 9000-3 (not the same as 9003) is a
guideline for applying ISO 9001 to software development organizations. The U.S.
version of the ISO 9000 series standards is exactly the same as the international version,
and is called the ANSI/ASQ Q9000 series. The U.S. version can be purchased directly
from the ASQ (American Society for Quality) or the ANSI organizations. To be ISO 9001
certified, a third-party auditor assesses an organization, and certification is typically good
for about 3 years, after which a complete reassessment is required. Note that ISO 9000
certification does not necessarily indicate quality products – it indicates only that
documented processes are followed.

What is IEEE?
IEEE = 'Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' - among other things, creates
standards such as 'IEEE Standard for Software Test Documentation' (IEEE/ANSI
Standard 829), 'IEEE Standard of Software Unit Testing (IEEE/ANSI Standard 1008),
'IEEE Standard for Software Quality Assurance Plans' (IEEE/ANSI Standard 730), and
others.

What is ANSI?
ANSI = 'American National Standards Institute', the primary industrial standards body in
the U.S.; publishes some software-related standards in conjunction with the IEEE and
ASQ (American Society for Quality).

Certifying agencies?
Other software development process assessment methods besides CMM and ISO 9000
include SPICE, Trillium, TickIT. and Bootstrap. – These are certifying agencies.
31. What is the 'software life cycle'?
The life cycle begins when an application is first conceived and ends when it is no longer
in use. It includes aspects such as initial concept, requirements analysis, functional
design, internal design, documentation planning, test planning, coding, document
preparation, integration, testing, maintenance, updates, retesting, phase-out, and other
aspects.

32. Will automated testing tools make testing easier?

Possibly. For small projects, the time needed to learn and implement them may not be
worth it. For larger projects, or on-going long-term projects they can be valuable. A
common type of automated tool is the 'record/playback' type. For example, a tester could
click through all combinations of menu choices, dialog box choices, buttons, etc. in an
application GUI and have them 'recorded' and the results logged by a tool. The 'recording'
is typically in the form of text based on a scripting language that is interpretable by the
testing tool. If new buttons are added, or some underlying code in the application is
changed, etc. the application can then be retested by just 'playing back' the 'recorded'
actions, and comparing the logging results to check effects of the changes. The problem
with such tools is that if there are continual changes to the system being tested, the
'recordings' may have to be changed so much that it becomes very time-consuming to
continuously update the scripts. Additionally, interpretation of results (screens, data, logs,
etc.) can be a difficult task.

33. What are the other automation tools?

Other automated tools can include:

code analyzers - monitor code complexity, adherence to standards, etc.

coverage analyzers - these tools check which parts of the code have been exercised by a
test, and may be oriented to code statement coverage, condition coverage, path coverage,
etc.

memory analyzers - such as bounds-checkers and leak detectors.

load/performance test tools - for testing client/server and web applications under various
load levels.

web test tools - to check that links are valid, HTML code usage is correct, client-side and
server-side programs work, a web site's interactions are secure.

other tools - for test case management, documentation management, bug reporting, and
configuration management.

34. What makes a good 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. Previous software development experience can be helpful
as it provides a deeper understanding of the software development process, gives the
tester an appreciation for the developers' point of view, and reduce the learning curve in
automated test tool programming. Judgement skills are needed to assess high-risk areas
of an application on which to focus testing efforts when time is limited.

35. What makes a good Software QA engineer?

The same qualities a good tester has are useful for a QA engineer. Additionally, 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.

36. What's the role of documentation in QA?

Critical. (Note that documentation can be electronic, not necessarily paper.) 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. There should ideally be a system for easily
finding and obtaining documents and determining what documentation will have a
particular piece of information. Change management for documentation should be used if
possible.

37. What's the big deal about 'requirements'?

One of the most reliable methods of insuring problems, or failure, in a complex software
project is to have poorly documented requirements specifications. Requirements are the
details describing an application's externally-perceived functionality and properties.
Requirements should be clear, complete, reasonably detailed, cohesive, attainable, and
testable. A non-testable requirement would be, for example, 'user-friendly' (too
subjective). A testable requirement would be something like 'the user must enter their
previously-assigned password to access the application'. Determining and organizing
requirements details in a useful and efficient way can be a difficult effort; different
methods are available depending on the particular project. Many books are available that
describe various approaches to this task.

Care should be taken to involve ALL of a project's significant 'customers' in the

requirements process. 'Customers' could be in-house personnel or out, and could include
end-users, customer acceptance testers, customer contract officers, customer
management, future software maintenance engineers, salespeople, etc. Anyone who could
later derail the project if their expectations aren't met should be included if possible.

Organizations vary considerably in their handling of requirements specifications. Ideally,

the requirements are spelled out in a document with statements such as 'The product
shall.....'. 'Design' specifications should not be confused with 'requirements'; design
specifications should be traceable back to the requirements.
In some organizations requirements may end up in high level project plans, functional
specification documents, in design documents, or in other documents at various levels of
detail. No matter what they are called, some type of documentation with detailed
requirements will be needed by testers in order to properly plan and execute tests.
Without such documentation, there will be no clear-cut way to determine if a software
application is performing correctly.

38. What steps are needed to develop and run software tests?
The following are some of the steps to consider:

• Obtain requirements, functional design, and internal design specifications and other
necessary documents
• Obtain budget and schedule requirements
• Determine project-related personnel and their responsibilities, reporting requirements,
required standards and processes (such as release processes, change processes, etc.)
• Identify application's higher-risk aspects, set priorities, and determine scope and
limitations of tests
• Determine test approaches and methods - unit, integration, functional, system, load,
usability tests, etc.
• Determine test environment requirements (hardware, software, communications, etc.)
• Determine testware requirements (record/playback tools, coverage analyzers, test
tracking, problem/bug tracking, etc.)
• Determine test input data requirements
• Identify tasks, those responsible for tasks, and labor requirements
• Set schedule estimates, timelines, milestones
• Determine input equivalence classes, boundary value analyses, error classes
• Prepare test plan document and have needed reviews/approvals
• Write test cases
• Have needed reviews/inspections/approvals of test cases
• Prepare test environment and testware, obtain needed user manuals/reference
documents/configuration guides/installation guides, set up test tracking processes, set
up logging and archiving processes, set up or obtain test input data
• Obtain and install software releases
• Perform tests
• Evaluate and report results
• Track problems/bugs and fixes
• Retest as needed
• Maintain and update test plans, test cases, test environment, and testware through life
cycle

39. What's a 'test plan'?

A software project test plan is a document that describes the objectives, scope, approach,
and focus of a software testing effort. The process of preparing a test plan is a useful way
to think through the efforts needed to validate the acceptability of a software product. The
completed document will help people outside the test group understand the 'why' and
'how' of product validation. It should be thorough enough to be useful but not so thorough
that no one outside the test group will read it. The following are some of the items that
might be included in a test plan, depending on the particular project:

• Title
• Identification of software including version/release numbers
• Revision history of document including authors, dates, approvals
• Table of Contents
• Purpose of document, intended audience
• Objective of testing effort
• Software product overview
• Relevant related document list, such as requirements, design documents, other test
plans, etc.
• Relevant standards or legal requirements
• Traceability requirements
• Relevant naming conventions and identifier conventions
• Overall software project organization and personnel/contact-info/responsibilities
• Test organization and personnel/contact-info/responsibilities
• Assumptions and dependencies
• Project risk analysis
• Testing priorities and focus
• Scope and limitations of testing
• Test outline - a decomposition of the test approach by test type, feature, functionality,
• process, system, module, etc. as applicable
• Outline of data input equivalence classes, boundary value analysis, error classes
• Test environment - hardware, operating systems, other required software, data
configurations,
• interfaces to other systems
• Test environment setup and configuration issues
• Test data setup requirements
• Database setup requirements
• Outline of system-logging/error-logging/other capabilities, and tools such as screen
capture
• software, that will be used to help describe and report bugs
• Discussion of any specialized software or hardware tools that will be used by testers
to help
• track the cause or source of bugs
• Test automation - justification and overview
• Test tools to be used, including versions, patches, etc.
• Test script/test code maintenance processes and version control
• Problem tracking and resolution - tools and processes
• Project test metrics to be used
• Reporting requirements and testing deliverables
• Software entrance and exit criteria
• Initial sanity testing period and criteria
• Test suspension and restart criteria
• Personnel allocation
• Personnel pre-training needs
• Test site/location
• Outside test organizations to be utilized and their purpose, responsibilties,
deliverables,
• contact persons, and coordination issues
• Relevant proprietary, classified, security, and licensing issues.
• Open issues
• Appendix - glossary, acronyms, etc.

40. What's a 'test case'?

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. A test case
should contain particulars such as test case identifier, test case name, objective, test
conditions/setup, input data requirements, steps, and expected results.
Note that the process of developing test cases can help find problems in the requirements
or design of an application, since it requires completely thinking through the operation of
the application. For this reason, it's useful to prepare test cases early in the development
cycle if possible.

41. 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. If
a problem-tracking system is in place, it should encapsulate these processes. A variety of
commercial problem-tracking/management software tools are available The following are
items to consider in the tracking process:

Complete information such that developers can understand the bug, get an idea of it's
severity, and reproduce it if necessary.
• Bug identifier (number, ID, etc.)
• Current bug status (e.g., 'Released for Retest', 'New', etc.)
• The application name or identifier and version
• The function, module, feature, object, screen, etc. where the bug occurred
• Environment specifics, system, platform, relevant hardware specifics
• Test case name/number/identifier
• One-line bug description
• Full bug description
• Description of steps needed to reproduce the bug if not covered by a test case or if the
developer doesn't have easy access to the test case/test script/test tool
• Names and/or descriptions of file/data/messages/etc. used in test
• File excerpts/error messages/log file excerpts/screen shots/test tool logs that would be
helpful in finding the cause of the problem
• Severity estimate (a 5-level range such as 1-5 or 'critical'-to-'low' is common)
• Was the bug reproducible?
• Tester name
• Test date
• Bug reporting date
• Name of developer/group/organization the problem is assigned to
• Description of problem cause
• Description of fix
• Code section/file/module/class/method that was fixed
• Date of fix
• Application version that contains the fix
• Tester responsible for retest
• Retest date
• Retest results
• Regression testing requirements
• Tester responsible for regression tests
• Regression testing results

42. What is 'configuration management'?

Configuration management covers the processes used to control, coordinate, and track:
code, requirements, documentation, problems, change requests, designs,
tools/compilers/libraries/patches, changes made to them, and who makes the changes.

43. 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. Since this type of problem can severely affect schedules, and indicates
deeper problems in the software development process (such as insufficient unit testing or
insufficient integration testing, poor design, improper build or release procedures, etc.)
managers should be notified, and provided with some documentation as evidence of the
problem.

44. How can it be known when to stop testing?

This can be difficult to determine. Many modern software applications are so complex,
and run in such an interdependent environment, that complete testing can never be done.
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

45. What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing?

Use risk analysis to determine where testing should be focused. Since it's rarely possible
to test every possible aspect of an application, every possible combination of events,
every dependency, or everything that could go wrong, risk analysis is appropriate to most
software development projects. This requires judgement skills, common sense, and
experience. Considerations can include:

• Which functionality is most important to the project's intended purpose?

• Which functionality is most visible to the user?
• Which functionality has the largest safety impact?
• Which functionality has the largest financial impact on users?
• Which aspects of the application are most important to the customer?
• Which aspects of the application can be tested early in the development cycle?
• Which parts of the code are most complex, and thus most subject to errors?
• Which parts of the application were developed in rush or panic mode?
• Which aspects of similar/related previous projects caused problems?
• Which aspects of similar/related previous projects had large maintenance expenses?
• Which parts of the requirements and design are unclear or poorly thought out?
• What do the developers think are the highest-risk aspects of the application?
• What kinds of problems would cause the worst publicity?
• What kinds of problems would cause the most customer service complaints?
• What kinds of tests could easily cover multiple functionalities?
• Which tests will have the best high-risk-coverage to time-required ratio?

46. What if the project isn't big enough to justify extensive testing?
Consider the impact of project errors, not the size of the project. However, if extensive
testing is still not justified, risk analysis is again needed and the same considerations as
described previously in 'What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing?' apply. The
tester might then do ad hoc testing, or write up a limited test plan based on the risk
analysis.

47. What can be done if requirements are changing continuously?

A common problem and a major headache.
• Work with the project's stakeholders early on to understand how requirements might
change so that alternate test plans and strategies can be worked out in advance, if
possible.
• It's helpful if the application's initial design allows for some adaptability so that later
changes do not require redoing the application from scratch.
• If the code is well-commented and well-documented this makes changes easier for the
developers.
• Use rapid prototyping whenever possible to help customers feel sure of their
requirements and minimize changes.
• The project's initial schedule should allow for some extra time commensurate with
the possibility of changes.
• Try to move new requirements to a 'Phase 2' version of an application, while using the
original requirements for the 'Phase 1' version.
• Negotiate to allow only easily-implemented new requirements into the project, while
moving more difficult new requirements into future versions of the application.
• Be sure that customers and management understand the scheduling impacts, inherent
risks, and costs of significant requirements changes. Then let management or the
customers (not the developers or testers) decide if the changes are warranted - after
all, that's their job.
• Balance the effort put into setting up automated testing with the expected effort
required to re-do them to deal with changes.
• Try to design some flexibility into automated test scripts.
• Focus initial automated testing on application aspects that are most likely to remain
unchanged.
• Devote appropriate effort to risk analysis of changes to minimize regression testing
needs.
• Design some flexibility into test cases (this is not easily done; the best bet might be to
minimize the detail in the test cases, or set up only higher-level generic-type test
plans)
• Focus less on detailed test plans and test cases and more on ad hoc testing (with an
understanding of the added risk that this entails).

48. What if the application has functionality that wasn't in the requirements?
It may take serious effort to determine if an application has significant unexpected or
hidden functionality, and it would indicate deeper problems in the software development
process. If the functionality isn't necessary to the purpose of the application, it should be
removed, as it may have unknown impacts or dependencies that were not taken into
account by the designer or the customer. If not removed, design information will be
needed to determine added testing needs or regression testing needs. Management should
be made aware of any significant added risks as a result of the unexpected functionality.
If the functionality only effects areas such as minor improvements in the user interface,
for example, it may not be a significant risk.

49. How can Software QA processes be implemented without stifling productivity?

By implementing QA processes slowly over time, using consensus to reach agreement on
processes, and adjusting and experimenting as an organization grows and matures,
productivity will be improved instead of stifled. Problem prevention will lessen the need
for problem detection, panics and burn-out will decrease, and there will be improved
focus and less wasted effort. At the same time, attempts should be made to keep processes
simple and efficient, minimize paperwork, promote computer-based processes and
automated tracking and reporting, minimize time required in meetings, and promote
training as part of the QA process. However, no one - especially talented technical types -
likes rules or bureacracy, and in the short run things may slow down a bit. A typical
scenario would be that more days of planning and development will be needed, but less
time will be required for late-night bug-fixing and calming of irate customers.

What if an organization is growing so fast that fixed QA processes are impossible?

This is a common problem in the software industry, especially in new technology areas.
There is no easy solution in this situation, other than:

• Hire good people

• Management should 'ruthlessly prioritize' quality issues and maintain focus on the
customer
• Everyone in the organization should be clear on what 'quality' means to the customer

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. Thus testing requirements can be
extensive. When time is limited (as it usually is) the focus should be on integration and
system testing. Additionally, load/stress/performance testing may be useful in
determining client/server application limitations and capabilities. There are commercial
tools to assist with such testing.

How can World Wide Web sites be tested?

Web sites are essentially client/server applications - with web servers and 'browser'
clients. Consideration should be given to the interactions between html pages, TCP/IP
communications, Internet connections, firewalls, applications that run in web pages (such
as applets, javascript, plug-in applications), and applications that run on the server side
(such as cgi scripts, database interfaces, logging applications, dynamic page generators,
asp, etc.). Additionally, there are a wide variety of servers and browsers, various versions
of each, small but sometimes significant differences between them, variations in
connection speeds, rapidly changing technologies, and multiple standards and protocols.
The end result is that testing for web sites can become a major ongoing effort. Other
considerations might include:
• What are the expected loads on the server (e.g., number of hits per unit time?), and
what kind of performance is required under such loads (such as web server response
time, database query response times). What kinds of tools will be needed for
performance testing (such as web load testing tools, other tools already in house that
can be adapted, web robot downloading tools, etc.)?
• Who is the target audience? What kind of browsers will they be using? What kind of
connection speeds will they by using? Are they intra- organization (thus with likely
high connection speeds and similar browsers) or Internet-wide (thus with a wide
variety of connection speeds and browser types)?
• What kind of performance is expected on the client side (e.g., how fast should pages
appear, how fast should animations, applets, etc. load and run)?
• Will down time for server and content maintenance/upgrades be allowed? how much?
• What kinds of security (firewalls, encryptions, passwords, etc.) will be required and
what is it expected to do? How can it be tested?
• How reliable are the site's Internet connections required to be? And how does that
affect backup system or redundant connection requirements and testing?
• What processes will be required to manage updates to the web site's content, and what
are the requirements for maintaining, tracking, and controlling page content, graphics,
links, etc.?
• Which HTML specification will be adhered to? How strictly? What variations will be
allowed for targeted browsers?
• Will there be any standards or requirements for page appearance and/or graphics
throughout a site or parts of a site??
• How will internal and external links be validated and updated? how often?
• Can testing be done on the production system, or will a separate test system be
required?
• How are browser caching, variations in browser option settings, dial-up connection
variabilities, and real-world internet 'traffic congestion' problems to be accounted for
in testing?
• How extensive or customized are the server logging and reporting requirements; are
they considered an integral part of the system and do they require testing?
• How are cgi programs, applets, javascripts, ActiveX components, etc. to be
maintained, tracked, controlled, and tested?
• Some sources of site security information include the Usenet newsgroup
‘comp.security.announce' and links concerning web site security in the 'Other
Resources' section.
• Some usability guidelines to consider - these are subjective and may or may not apply
to a given situation
• Pages should be 3-5 screens max unless content is tightly focused on a single topic. If
larger, provide internal links within the page.
• The page layouts and design elements should be consistent throughout a site, so that
it's clear to the user that they're still within a site.
• Pages should be as browser-independent as possible, or pages should be provided or
generated based on the browser-type.
• All pages should have links external to the page; there should be no dead-end pages.
• The page owner, revision date, and a link to a contact person or organization should
be included on each page.

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. While there will be little affect on black box
testing (where an understanding of the internal design of the application is unnecessary),
white-box testing can be oriented to the application's objects. 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. It was created by Kent Beck who described
the approach in his book 'Extreme Programming Explained. Testing ('extreme testing') is
a core aspect of Extreme Programming. Programmers are expected to write unit and
functional test code first - before the application is developed. Test code is under source
control along with the rest of the code. Customers are expected to be an integral part of
the project team and to help develope scenarios for acceptance/black box testing.
Acceptance tests are preferably automated, and are modified and rerun for each of the
frequent development iterations. QA and test personnel are also required to be an integral
part of the project team. Detailed requirements documentation is not used, and frequent
re-scheduling, re-estimating, and re-prioritizing is expected.

Testing Objectives
Testing is a process of executing a program with the intent of finding an error. A good test
is one that has a high probability of finding an as yet undiscovered error. A successful test
is one that uncovers an as yet undiscovered error.

The objective is to design tests that systematically uncover different classes of errors and
do so with a minimum amount of time and effort.

Secondary benefits include

Demonstrate that software functions appear to be working according to specification.
That performance requirements appear to have been met.
Data collected during testing provides a good indication of software reliability and some
indication of software quality.
Testing cannot show the absence of defects, it can only show that software defects are
present.
Test Information Flow

Software Configuration includes a Software Requirements Specification, a Design

Specification, and source code.
A test configuration includes a Test Plan and Procedures, test cases, and testing tools.
It is difficult to predict the time to debug the code, hence it is difficult to schedule.

Test Case Design

Can test if a component conforms to specification - Black Box Testing.
Can test if a component conforms to design - White box testing.
Testing can not prove correctness as not all execution paths can be tested.

White Box Testing

Testing control structures of a procedural design.
Can derive test cases to ensure:
• all independent paths are exercised at least once.
• all logical decisions are exercised for both true and false paths.
• all loops are executed at their boundaries and within operational bounds.
• all internal data structures are exercised to ensure validity.

Why do white box testing when black box testing is used to test conformance to
requirements?

Logic errors and incorrect assumptions most likely to be made when coding for "special
cases". Need to ensure these execution paths are tested.
May find assumptions about execution paths incorrect, and so make design errors. White
box testing can find these errors.
Typographical errors are random. Just as likely to be on an obscure logical path as on a
mainstream path.
"Bugs lurk in corners and congregate at boundaries"

Basis Path Testing

A testing mechanism proposed by McCabe.

Aim is to derive a logical complexity measure of a procedural design and use this as a
guide for defining a basic set of execution paths.

Test cases which exercise basic set will execute every statement at least once.

Cyclomatic Complexity

The cyclomatic complexity gives a quantitative measure of the logical complexity.

This value gives the number of independent paths in the basis set, and an upper bound for
the number of tests to ensure that each statement is executed at least once.
An independent path is any path through a program that introduces at least one new set of
processing statements or a new condition (i.e., a new edge)
Cyclomatic complexity provides upper bound for number of tests required to guarantee
coverage of all program statements.

Deriving Test Cases

• Using the design or code, draw the corresponding flow graph.
• Determine the cyclomatic complexity of the flow graph.
• Determine a basis set of independent paths.
• Prepare test cases that will force execution of each path in the basis set.

Note: some paths may only be able to be executed as part of another test.

Control Structure testing.

Basic path testing one example of control structure testing.
• Conditions Testing
• Data Flow Testing
• Loop Testing

Conditions Testing
Condition testing aims to exercise all logical conditions in a program module.
Can define:
Relational expression: (E1 op E2), where E1 and E2 are arithmetic expressions.
Simple condition: Boolean variable or relational expression, possibly preceded by a NOT
operator.
Compound condition: composed of two or more simple conditions, boolean operators
and
parentheses.
Boolean expression: Condition without relational expressions.

Errors in expressions can be due to:

Boolean operator error

Boolean variable error
Boolean parenthesis error
Relational operator error
Arithmetic expression error

Condition testing methods focus on testing each condition in the program.

Strategies proposed include:

Branch testing - execute every branch at least once.

Domain Testing - uses three or four tests for every relational operator.

Branch and relational operator testing - uses condition constraints

Example 1: C1 = B1 & B2

where B1, B2 are boolean conditions..

Condition constraint of form (D1,D2) where D1 and D2 can be true (t) or false(f).
The branch and relational operator test requires the constraint set {(t,t),(f,t),(t,f)} to be
covered by the execution of C1.

Coverage of the constraint set guarantees detection of relational operator errors.

1.4.2 Data Flow Testing

Selects test paths according to the location of definitions and use of variables.

1.4.3 Loop Testing

Loops fundamental to many algorithms.

Can define loops as simple, concatenated, nested, and unstructured.

Examples:

To test:

Simple Loops of size n:

Skip loop entirely
Only one pass through loop
Two passes through loop
m passes through loop where m<n.
(n-1), n, and (n+1) passes through the loop.
Nested Loops
Start with inner loop. Set all other loops to minimum values.
Conduct simple loop testing on inner loop.
Work outwards
Continue until all loops tested.
Concatenated Loops
If independent loops, use simple loop testing.
If dependent, treat as nested loops.
Unstructured loops
Don't test - redesign.

1.5 Black Box Testing

Focus on functional requirements.

Compliments white box testing.

Attempts to find:

1.incorrect or missing functions

2.interface errors
3.errors in data structures or external database access
4.performance errors
5.initialisation and termination errors.

1.5.1 Equivalence Partitioning

1.5.2 Boundary Value Analysis.
1.5.3 Cause Effect Graphing Techniques.
1.5.4 Comparison Testing
1.5.1 Equivalence Partitioning

Divide the input domain into classes of data for which test cases can be generated.

Attempting to uncover classes of errors.

Based on equivalence classes for input conditions.

An equivalence class represents a set of valid or invalid states

An input condition is either a specific numeric value, range of values, a set of related
values, or a
boolean condition.

Equivalence classes can be defined by:

If an input condition specifies a range or a specific value, one valid and two invalid
equivalence classes defined.
If an input condition specifies a boolean or a member of a set, one valid and one
invalid
equivalence classes defined.

Test cases for each input domain data item developed and executed.

1.5.2 Boundary Value Analysis.

Large number of errors tend to occur at boundaries of the input domain.

BVA leads to selection of test cases that exercise boundary values.

BVA complements equivalence partitioning. Rather than select any element in an

equivalence class,
select those at the ''edge' of the class.

Examples:

1.For a range of values bounded by a and b, test (a-1), a, (a+1), (b-1), b, (b+1).
2.If input conditions specify a number of values n, test with (n-1), n and (n+1) input
values.
3.Apply 1 and 2 to output conditions (e.g., generate table of minimum and maximum
size).
4.If internal program data structures have boundaries (e.g., buffer size, table limits), use
input
data to exercise structures on boundaries.
1.5.3 Cause Effect Graphing Techniques.

Translation of natural language descriptions of procedures to software based algorithms is

error
prone.

Example: From US Army Corps of Engineers:

Executive Order 10358 provides in the case of an employee whose work week varies
from the
normal Monday through Friday work week, that Labor Day and Thanksgiving Day each
were
to be observed on the next succeeding workday when the holiday fell on a day outside the
employee's regular basic work week. Now, when Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day or any of
the
new Monday holidays are outside an employee's basic workbook, the immediately
preceding
workday will be his holiday when the non-workday on which the holiday falls is the
second
non-workday or the non-workday designated as the employee's day off in lieu of
Saturday.
When the non-workday on which the holiday falls is the first non-workday or the
non-workday designated as the employee's day off in lieu of Sunday, the holiday
observance is
moved to the next succeeding workday.

How do you test code which attempts to implement this?

Cause-effect graphing attempts to provide a concise representation of logical

combinations and
corresponding actions.

1.Causes (input conditions) and effects (actions) are listed for a module and an
identifier is
assigned to each.
2.A cause-effect graph developed.
3.Graph converted to a decision table.
4.Decision table rules are converted to test cases.

Simplified symbology:

1.5.4 Comparison Testing

In some applications the reliability is critical.

Redundant hardware and software may be used.

For redundant s/w, use separate teams to develop independent versions of the software.

Test each version with same test data to ensure all provide identical output.

Run all versions in parallel with a real-time comparison of results.

Even if will only run one version in final system, for some critical applications can
develop
independent versions and use comparison testing or back-to-back testing.

When outputs of versions differ, each is investigated to determine if there is a defect.

Method does not catch errors in the specification.

1.6 Static Program Analysis

1.6.1 Program Inspections

1.6.2 Mathematical Program Verification
1.6.3 Static Program Analysers

1.6.1 Program Inspections

Have covered under SQA.

1.6.2 Mathematical Program Verification

If the programming language semantics are formally defined, can consider program to be
a set of
mathematical statements

Can attempt to develop a mathematical proof that the program is correct with respect to
the
specification.

If the proof can be established, the program is verified and testing to check verification is
not
required.

There are a number of approaches to proving program correctness. Will only consider
axiomatic
approach.

Suppose that at points P(1), .. , P(n) assertions concerning the program variables and their
relationships can be made.

The assertions are a(1), ..., a(n).

The assertion a(1) is about inputs to the program, and a(n) about outputs.

Can now attempt, for k between 1 and (n-1), to prove that the statements between

P(k) and P(k+1) transform the assertion a(k) to a(k+1).

Given that a(1) and a(n) are true, this sequence of proofs shows partial program
correctness. If it
can be shown that the program will terminate, the proof is complete.

Read through example in text book.

1.6.3 Static Program Analysers

Static analysis tools scan the source code to try to detect errors.

The code does not need to be executed.

Most useful for languages which do not have strong typing.

Can check:

1.Syntax.
2.Unreachable code
3.Unconditional branches into loops
4.Undeclared variables
5.Uninitialised variables.
6.Parameter type mismatches
7.Uncalled functions and procedures.
8.Variables used before initialisation.
9.Non usage of function results.
10.Possible array bound errors.
11.Misuse of pointers.

1.7 Automated Testing Tools.

Range of tools may be available for programmers:

1.Static analyser
2.Code Auditors
3.Assertion processors
4.Test file generators
 5.Test Data Generators
6.Test Verifiers
7.Output comparators.

A software process can be defined as a set of activities, methods, practices,

and transformations that people use to develop and maintain software and the
associated products (e.g., project plans, design documents, code, test cases,
and user manuals). As an organization matures, the software process
becomes better defined and more consistently implemented throughout the
organization.
Software process capability describes the range of expected results that
can be achieved by following a software process. The software process
capability of an organization provides one means of predicting the most likely
outcomes to be expected from the next software project the organization
undertakes.
Software process performance represents the actual results achieved by
following a software process. Thus, software process performance focuses on
the results achieved, while software process capability focuses on results
expected.
Software process maturity is the extent to which a specific process is
explicitly defined, managed, measured, controlled, and effective. Maturity
implies a potential for growth in capability and indicates both the richness of
an organization's software process and the consistency with which it is
applied in projects throughout the organization.