Testing

• Coverage
– ideally, testing will exercise the system in all possible
ways
– not possible, so we use different criteria to judge how well
our testing strategy “covers” the system
• Test case
– consists of data, procedure, and expected result
– represents just one situation under which the system (or
some part of it) might run
 Testing Phases
• Unit testing - does this piece work by
itself?
• Integration testing - do these two pieces
In development/ work together?
maintenance • System testing - do all the pieces work
organization together?
• Alpha acceptance testing - try it out with
in-house “users”
• Installation testing - can users install it
and does it work in their environment?
In user • Beta acceptance testing - try it out with
organization
real users
 Test Planning
• A Test Plan:
– covers all types and phases of testing
– guides the entire testing process
– who, why, when, what
– developed as requirements, functional
specification, and high-level design are
developed
– should be done before implementation starts
 Test Planning (cont.)
• A test plan includes:
– test objectives
– schedule and logistics
– test strategies
– test cases
• procedure
• data
• expected result
– procedures for handling problems
 Testing Techniques
• Structural testing techniques
– “white box” testing
– based on statements in the code
– coverage criteria related to physical parts of the system
– tests how a program/system does something
• Functional testing techniques
– “black box” testing
– based on input and output
– coverage criteria based on behavior aspects
– tests the behavior of a system or program
 System Testing Techniques
• Goal is to evaluate the system as a whole,
not its parts
• Techniques can be structural or functional
• Techniques can be used in any stage that
tests the system as a whole (acceptance,
installation, etc.)
• Techniques not mutually exclusive
System Testing Techniques (cont.)
• Structural techniques
– stress testing - test larger-than-normal capacity
in terms of transactions, data, users, speed, etc.
– execution testing - test performance in terms of
speed, precision, etc.
– recovery testing - test how the system recovers
from a disaster, how it handles corrupted data,
etc.
System Testing Techniques (cont.)
• Structural techniques (cont.)
– operations testing - test how the system fits in
with existing operations and procedures in the
user organization
– compliance testing - test adherence to standards
– security testing - test security requirements
System Testing Techniques (cont.)
• Functional techniques
– requirements testing - fundamental form of testing -
makes sure the system does what it’s required to do
– regression testing - make sure unchanged functionality
remains unchanged
– error-handling testing - test required error-handling
functions (usually user error)
– manual-support testing - test that the system can be
used properly - includes user documentation
System Testing Techniques (cont.)
• Functional techniques (cont.)
– intersystem handling testing - test that the system
is compatible with other systems in the
environment
– control testing - test required control mechanisms
– parallel testing - feed same input into two
versions of the system to make sure they produce
the same output
 Unit Testing
• Goal is to evaluate some piece (file,
program, module, component, etc.) in
isolation
• Techniques can be structural or functional
• In practice, it’s usually ad-hoc and looks a
lot like debugging
• More structured approaches exist
 Unit Testing Techniques
• Functional techniques
– input domain testing - pick test cases
representative of the range of allowable input,
including high, low, and average values
– equivalence partitioning - partition the range of
allowable input so that the program is expected
to behave similarly for all inputs in a given
partition, then pick a test case from each
partition
 Unit Testing Techniques (cont.)
• Functional techniques (cont.)
– boundary value - choose test cases with input values at the
boundary (both inside and outside) of the allowable range
– syntax checking - choose test cases that violate the format
rules for input
– special values - design test cases that use input values that
represent special situations
– output domain testing - pick test cases that will produce
output at the extremes of the output domain
 Unit Testing Techniques (cont.)
• Structural techniques
– statement testing - ensure the set of test cases exercises
every statement at least once
– branch testing - each branch of an if/then statement is
exercised
– conditional testing - each truth statement is exercised
both true and false
– expression testing - every part of every expression is
exercised
– path testing - every path is exercised (impossible in
practice)
 Unit Testing Techniques (cont.)
• Error-based techniques
– basic idea is that if you know something about
the nature of the defects in the code, you can
estimate whether or not you’ve found all of
them or not
– fault seeding - put a certain number of known
faults into the code, then test until they are all
found
 Unit Testing Techniques (cont.)
• Error-based techniques (cont.)
– mutation testing - create mutants of the program
by making single changes, then run test cases
until all mutants have been killed
– historical test data - an organization keeps
records of the average numbers of defects in the
products it produces, then tests a new product
until the number of defects found approaches the
expected number
 Testing vs. Static Analysis
• Static Analysis attempts to evaluate a program
without executing it
• Techniques:
– inspections and reviews
– mathematical correctness proofs
– safety analysis
– program measurements
– data flow and control flow analysis
– symbolic execution
 Testing: A Roadmap
by Mary Jean Harrold, Future of Software Engineering
Series, ICSE 2000, Limerick, Ireland

Status of
Testing Fundamental Research
Methods,
Tools, and
Testing component-
Processes in based systems Methods
2000 and
Testing based on
precode artifacts Tools

Testing evolving
software
Empirical
Demonstrating effectiveness
Studies
of testing techniques

Creating effective
testing processes
Practical Testing
Using testing
Methods, Tools,
artifacts
and Processes for
Other testing Development of
approaches
High-Quality
Software
 Testing: A Roadmap (cont.)
• Regression testing can account for up to 1/3 of
total cost of software
• Research has focused on ways to make regression
testing more efficient:
– Finding most effective subsets of the test suite
– Managing the growth of the test suite
– Use precode artifacts to help plan regression testing
• Need to focus on reducing size of test suite,
prioritizing test cases, and assessing testability
Test Case Prioritization: An Empirical Study
Gregg Rothermel et al, ICSM 1999, Oxford, England

• Prioritization is necessary:
– during regression testing
– when there is not enough time or resources to run the
entire test suite
– when there is a need to decide which test cases to run
first, i.e. which give the biggest bang for the buck
• Prioritization can be based on:
– which test cases are likely to find the most faults
– which test cases are likely to find the most severe faults
– which test cases are likely to cover the most statements
 Test Case Prioritization: An
Empirical Study
• The study:
– Applied 9 different prioritization techniques to
7 different programs
– All prioritization techniques were aimed at
finding faults faster
– Results showed that prioritization definitely
increases the fault detection rate, but different
prioritization techniques didn’t differ much in
effectiveness
A Manager’s Guide to Evaluating Test Suites
Brian Marick, et al. http://www.testing.com/writings/evaluating-test-
suites-paper.pdf

• Basic assumption: purpose of testing is to help

manager decide whether or not to release the
system to the customer
• Threat Product Problem Victim
• Users - create detailed descriptions of fictitious,
but realistic, users
• Pay attention to usability
• Coverage - code, documentation
 Summary of Readings
• Rigorous scientific study vs. practical
experience
– Harrold and Rothermel are academic
researchers
– Marick is a practitioner/consultant
– differences in perspective, concerns,
approaches
• Plan ahead vs. evaluate after the fact
 Summary of Readings (cont.)
• Regression testing
– big cost
– size and quality of test suite is crucial
– automation only goes so far
– tradeoff between test planning time and test
execution time