Redefining Exploratory Testing

Can an exploratory test become scripted? Is there really such a thing as a truly exploratory test? Or is it in fact just a scaled-down scripted test? With Exploratory tests becoming increasingly scripted in nature, I feel this is the right time to redefine the meaning of exploratory test and draw a line between exploratory and scripted test.

As any reference book or present-day tester would claim, the Methodology of modern software testing could then be divided into mainly two dominant categories: Exploratory and Scripted Testing. But what then is the difference between these two methodologies? After all, they share the same purpose: to find bugs and check functionality against requirements. Isn't it?

Some might suggest that the main difference is that Scripted testing is much more well-documented than Exploratory testing and thus weighs heavier as a formal proof of the code having been thoroughly tested. Others might say that it's really about automation. With Scripted tests, the code could easily be performance tested through automated tests that runs thousands of iterations and logs the program's every behaviour. Yet another group might claim that the Exploratory test approach applies solely to GUI-testing and should not be used for anything else. According to James Bach, the plainest definition of exploratory testing is test design and test execution at the same time.

Let's take a closer look
Obviously, there is a great deal of confusion about both the structure(1) and the purpose(2) of Exploratory testing as well as when it should be conducted(3). A further examination of these three issues is therefore warranted:

1. The Structure of Exploratory Testing.
Unless the program to be tested is very small, most Exploratory tests have a written template, a guide to follow when performing the test. Alternatively the Tester is extremely familiar with the product and can go through its different functions from the top of their head. This is not a recommendable situation though as there is no contingency plan for the company if the tester suddenly becomes unavailable. Also; we're only human. On a typical Monday morning, anyone could forget an essential part of the routine even if it has been performed a trillion times before.

So let's assume that the Exploratory test is in fact documented and that copies of that document are being used every time the product is tested. In that case it is also likely that the tester, after completion of the tests, signs off his task with a reference to that very same document. The document hence becomes formally connected with the performed test and its certificate of adequate test coverage and robustness. Doesn't that sound awfully familiar to scripted testing?

2. Purpose of Exploratory Testing.
The purpose of any testing (including Exploratory testing) is to find bugs and check functionality against requirements. But if we again try to scrutinize the said difference between the two testing paradigms mentioned above, we'll find that Exploratory testing mainly focuses of finding bugs that would appear when the program is used correctly, that is; according to the specifications. If, for example, a certain function requires the in-values of: "$100 to 1000" and a specific time-duration expressed in "full weeks" to calculate a ROI, then the Exploratory test would try the function with exactly these figures, whereas a Scripted test would also try to run the function with maybe "-£500" and "44.7 years" as typical in-values to see how the software behaved with anomalies.

However, even though the scope of the two methodologies could be different, a scripted test could easily be written to cover exactly the same functions, with the same depth, as any typical Exploratory test. All you really have to do is to use the same type of user-behaviour and in-data as stipulated in the requirements. Again, a blurring of the definition.

3. When Exploratory testing should be conducted.
After having just received the first Alpha version of a new product, a stressed Test Manager might say: "Give it a quick try with a Exploratory test now and then again just before we release", meaning that everything else in between should be Scripted testing. This strategy might be reasonable since there often is a need of quickly showing the developers what faulting functions needs to be addressed first after the initial release. There is of course also the necessity of once again going over the whole system just prior to the final release to make sure that all the latest bugfixes hasn't caused new ones. Exploratory testing, being rather cost-effective and rapid, might seem a good option in those two cases.

However, with modern software testing becoming introduced on all levels of the development cycle, the initial "quick look" should not be necessary. The test team should have had enough time to write proper test cases and suites while the program was being coded had they already been present at the planning stages. A final overhaul of the whole system could perhaps be more justifiable, especially if there is very little time left before the deadline. However, this would probably prove to be unsatisfactory in regards of quality, since if there is anything that the program should really be tested for at that stage, it should be its robustness and performance, not just basic functionality.

Redefining Exploratory Testing
With these few exceptions accounted for, I feel that it is safe to say that Exploratory testing is becoming obsolete or at least less important. While many might want to defend the role of Exploratory testing as being an important part of their everyday work, the very same people would probably agree that it is their team’s overall goal to perform as much Scripted testing as possible. Likewise would most project managers like to see their products being formally tested on all levels before release, which again makes fumbling Exploratory tests a waste of time.

I would therefore suggest a re-definition of Exploratory testing. It should be an activity reserved for the two situations described above and for the case where a tester, who has been newly assigned to the test work, needs to get a quick understanding of how the product is meant to work. Exploratory testing, in the old meaning of the word, should be incorporated into what we normally refer to as Scripted testing. Perhaps on a very rudimentary level, at least in comparison with what Scripted tests normally do, but still in the same context as Scripted tests in terms of repeatability, formal reference and thoroughness. This is the way we are already heading, we now only have to also officially recognize it.

Any Comments ?

Top Ten Threats For 2007 - From McAfee

From: Securitypro News

It's near the end of 2006, so lists will be a big part of the stories you read on virtually any topic from now through the New Year. McAfee has a list for the security-conscious. The list covers what their Avert Labs data indicated will be the top 10 security threats next year, presented in no particular order: \

1. The number of password-stealing Web sites will increase using fake sign-in pages for popular online services such as eBay

2. The volume of spam, particularly bandwidth-eating image spam, will continue to increase

3. The popularity of video sharing on the Web makes it inevitable that hackers will target MPEG files as a means to distribute malicious code

4. Mobile phone attacks will become more prevalent as mobile devices become "smarter" and more connected

5. Adware will go mainstream following the increase in commercial Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs)

6. Identity theft and data loss will continue to be a public issue - at the root of these crimes is often computer theft, loss of back-ups and compromised information systems

7. The use of bots, computer programs that perform automated tasks, will increase as a tool favored by hackers

8. Parasitic malware, or viruses that modify existing files on a disk, will make a comeback

9. The number of rootkits on 32-bit platforms will increase, but protection and remediation capabilities will increase as well

10. Vulnerabilities will continue to cause concern fueled by the underground market for vulnerabilities

The greater concern that should make these threats more of a priority for law enforcement around the globe is how so many of them will be perpetrated by criminals. With potential profits available through exploiting technology and the people who use it, the more organized and sophisticated criminal groups will continue to seek ways to garner those gains. McAfee said its researchers have seen "evidence of the rise of professional and organized crime in malware creation.":

(D)evelopment teams are creating malicious software, testing it and automating its production and release. Sophisticated techniques such as polymorphism, the recurrence of parasitic infectors, rootkits, and automated systems with cycling encryption releasing new builds are becoming more prevalent. Furthermore, threats are being packed or encrypted to disguise their malicious purpose on a more rapid and complex scale.

Threats to videos and mobiles could be a combined problem. The popular video sharing site YouTube recently inked a deal with Verizon Wireless that will make videos available to V Cast subscribers. If video on mobile finally starts to gain a greater userbase, that will make it a target for attackers.

Getting started with Software Testing

Suvasis asks, "I am trying to get into software testing. But I never took a course on testing. What would u recommend for a beginner???"

How many times do you come across such question? My approach to such kind of question would be to follow three golden rules of learning !

1. Read it.

2. Practice it.

3. Build Network.

Unfortunately testing is not something which might be taught at most schools. So, undoubtedly most things in testing are new for you as a fresher. So start with reading a lot. You can start with good testing books, online articles, testing magazines, online forums and the list continues. There are many good books in the market. Some of the best sites to refer to would be

Cem Kaner: http://www.kaner.com

James Bach: http://www.satisfice.com

Reading through their articles would introduce one to the world of testing. If you have extra cash on you, attending a seminar/training sessions might be useful (I say might be since I have no on hand experience of attending one of these). I believe what could be taught could be very well learnt by you. Another major source (and a free one) is that of blogs. There are many testers blogging out there. One person I blindly follow is Michael Hunter (http://blogs.msdn.com/micahel). Just reading his blog should get you hooked onto testing. So yes, you need to start reading.

ut all books is not going to get you anywhere, unless you practice it. If your day job does not support testing, make it your night job. If you write code, test it more sincerely. One practice I used to follow was trying to break my friend’s code for some project while he tries to break mine. Working in pairs could help. Try getting a partner. Not only does it make your code robust during submissions, but it also gets you better grades if you are still in your final years.

Look up Mozilla (www.mozilla.org). Participate in the open source community. You could download nightly builds from Mozilla and try to break them. Want to know what a test case or a bug report would look like? You'll get those on Mozilla. Did you know Microsoft Vista Betas were being shipped free? Get one of those and try to probe into it. The more inquisitive you are about testing, the more questions you will have. And more the questions, more you will learn. Sounds positive?

Sign up as Beta tester. Microsoft has a Beta testing program. Acronys has a Beta testing program. Try to look up some test automation tools. Dig into Junit and the likes.

Lastly, network around. Participate in forum discussions, write articles, and offer suggestions. Not everything you do might turn up being right. But if you aint getting your fingers slapped once in a while, you aint pushing the boundaries far enough. If nothing else write a blog.

Start working on a pet project, test it and upload it to one of the communities. People will download it, run it, and test it for you. Vice-versa! Every time they report a bug, you know where your testing+coding skills need to be improvised. Pick project ideas off Codeproject, Planetsourcecode etc. Buddy up with someone and build it, break it. Break it to build it. Try to automate your tests. Every time you wonder how you could get a certain aspect of it done, look up Google, ask people.And of course, if you land up with a Software Testing job, it just makes life simple.

Reading up, implementing it and asking around are what helped me. There aint any formula to getting started. Just get started with one aspect of testing, it leads to others. How wide you spread your arms depends on your interest.Quick advice before you venture into any coding. Write a quick Spec. Getting a clear spec is the first step towards being a good tester. Not only will it help you design, it will help you catch bugs before you start coding. So get started into testing and get going.

Top 200 Software Testing Interview Questions with Answers

From: SQA FYI Center

1. What is Acceptance Testing?
Testing conducted to enable a user/customer to determine whether to accept a software product. Normally performed to validate the software meets a set of agreed acceptance criteria.

2. What is Accessibility Testing?
Verifying a product is accessible to the people having disabilities (deaf, blind, mentally disabled etc.).

3. What is Ad Hoc Testing?
A testing phase where the tester tries to 'break' the system by randomly trying the system's functionality. Can include negative testing as well. See also Monkey Testing.

4. What is Agile Testing?
Testing practice for projects using agile methodologies, treating development as the customer of testing and emphasizing a test-first design paradigm. See also Test Driven Development.

5. What is Application Binary Interface (ABI)?
A specification defining requirements for portability of applications in binary forms across different system platforms and environments.

6. What is Application Programming Interface (API)?
A formalized set of software calls and routines that can be referenced by an application program in order to access supporting system or network services.

7. What is Automated Software Quality (ASQ)?
The use of software tools, such as automated testing tools, to improve software quality.

8. What is Automated Testing?
Testing employing software tools which execute tests without manual intervention. Can be applied in GUI, performance, API, etc. testing. The use of software to control the execution of tests, the comparison of actual outcomes to predicted outcomes, the setting up of test preconditions, and other test control and test reporting functions.

9. What is Backus-Naur Form?
A metalanguage used to formally describe the syntax of a language.

10. What is Basic Block?
A sequence of one or more consecutive, executable statements containing no branches.

11. What is Basis Path Testing?
A white box test case design technique that uses the algorithmic flow of the program to design tests.

12. What is Basis Set?
The set of tests derived using basis path testing.

13. What is Baseline?
The point at which some deliverable produced during the software engineering process is put under formal change control.

14. What you will do during the first day of job?
What would you like to do five years from now?

15. What is Beta Testing?
Testing of a release of a software product conducted by customers.

16. What is Binary Portability Testing?
Testing an executable application for portability across system platforms and environments, usually for conformation to an ABI specification.

17. What is Black Box Testing?
Testing based on an analysis of the specification of a piece of software without reference to its internal workings. The goal is to test how well the component conforms to the published requirements for the component.

18. What is Bottom Up Testing?
An approach to integration testing where the lowest level components are tested first, then used to facilitate the testing of higher level components. The process is repeated until the component at the top of the hierarchy is tested.

19. What is Boundary Testing?
Test which focus on the boundary or limit conditions of the software being tested. (Some of these tests are stress tests).

20. What is Bug?
A fault in a program which causes the program to perform in an unintended or unanticipated manner.

20. What is Defect?
If software misses some feature or function from what is there in requirement it is called as defect.

21. What is Boundary Value Analysis?
BVA is similar to Equivalence Partitioning but focuses on "corner cases" or values that are usually out of range as defined by the specification. his means that if a function expects all values in range of negative 100 to positive 1000, test inputs would include negative 101 and positive 1001.

22. What is Branch Testing?
Testing in which all branches in the program source code are tested at least once.

23. What is Breadth Testing?
A test suite that exercises the full functionality of a product but does not test features in detail.

24. What is CAST?
Computer Aided Software Testing.

25. What is Capture/Replay Tool?
A test tool that records test input as it is sent to the software under test. The input cases stored can then be used to reproduce the test at a later time. Most commonly applied to GUI test tools.

26. What is CMM?
The Capability Maturity Model for Software (CMM or SW-CMM) is a model for judging the maturity of the software processes of an organization and for identifying the key practices that are required to increase the maturity of these processes.

27. What is Cause Effect Graph?
A graphical representation of inputs and the associated outputs effects which can be used to design test cases.

28. What is Code Complete?
Phase of development where functionality is implemented in entirety; bug fixes are all that are left. All functions found in the Functional Specifications have been implemented.

29. What is Code Coverage?
An analysis method that determines which parts of the software have been executed (covered) by the test case suite and which parts have not been executed and therefore may require additional attention.

30. What is Code Inspection?
A formal testing technique where the programmer reviews source code with a group who ask questions analyzing the program logic, analyzing the code with respect to a checklist of historically common programming errors, and analyzing its compliance with coding standards.

31. What is Code Walkthrough?
A formal testing technique where source code is traced by a group with a small set of test cases, while the state of program variables is manually monitored, to analyze the programmer's logic and assumptions.

32. What is Coding?
The generation of source code.

33. What is Compatibility Testing?
Testing whether software is compatible with other elements of a system with which it should operate, e.g. browsers, Operating Systems, or hardware.

34. What is Component?
A minimal software item for which a separate specification is available.

35. What is Component Testing?
Testing of individual software components (Unit Testing).

36. What is Concurrency Testing?
Multi-user testing geared towards determining the effects of accessing the same application code, module or database records. Identifies and measures the level of locking, deadlocking and use of single-threaded code and locking semaphores.

37. What is Conformance Testing?
The process of testing that an implementation conforms to the specification on which it is based. Usually applied to testing conformance to a formal standard.

38. What is Context Driven Testing?
The context-driven school of software testing is flavor of Agile Testing that advocates continuous and creative evaluation of testing opportunities in light of the potential information revealed and the value of that information to the organization right now.

39. What is Conversion Testing?
Testing of programs or procedures used to convert data from existing systems for use in replacement systems.

40. What is Cyclomatic Complexity?
A measure of the logical complexity of an algorithm, used in white-box testing.

41. What is Data Dictionary?
A database that contains definitions of all data items defined during analysis.

42. What is Data Flow Diagram?
A modeling notation that represents a functional decomposition of a system.

43. What is Data Driven Testing?
Testing in which the action of a test case is parameterized by externally defined data values, maintained as a file or spreadsheet. A common technique in Automated Testing.

44. What is Debugging?
The process of finding and removing the causes of software failures.

45. What is Defect?
Nonconformance to requirements or functional / program specification

46. What is Dependency Testing?
Examines an application's requirements for pre-existing software, initial states and configuration in order to maintain proper functionality.

47. What is Depth Testing?
A test that exercises a feature of a product in full detail.

48. What is Dynamic Testing?
Testing software through executing it. See also Static Testing.

49. What is Emulator?
A device, computer program, or system that accepts the same inputs and produces the same outputs as a given system.

50. What is Endurance Testing?
Checks for memory leaks or other problems that may occur with prolonged execution.

51. What is End-to-End testing?
Testing 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.

52. What is Equivalence Class?
A portion of a component's input or output domains for which the component's behaviour is assumed to be the same from the component's specification.

53. What is Equivalence Partitioning?
A test case design technique for a component in which test cases are designed to execute representatives from equivalence classes.

54. What is Exhaustive Testing?
Testing which covers all combinations of input values and preconditions for an element of the software under test.

55. What is Functional Decomposition?
A technique used during planning, analysis and design; creates a functional hierarchy for the software.

54. What is Functional Specification?
A document that describes in detail the characteristics of the product with regard to its intended features.

55. What is Functional Testing?
Testing the features and operational behavior of a product to ensure they correspond to its specifications. Testing that ignores the internal mechanism of a system or component and focuses solely on the outputs generated in response to selected inputs and execution conditions. or Black Box Testing.

56. What is Glass Box Testing?
A synonym for White Box Testing.

57. What is Gorilla Testing?
Testing one particular module, functionality heavily.

58. What is Gray Box Testing?
A combination of Black Box and White Box testing methodologies? testing a piece of software against its specification but using some knowledge of its internal workings.

59. What is High Order Tests?
Black-box tests conducted once the software has been integrated.

60. What is Independent Test Group (ITG)?
A group of people whose primary responsibility is software testing,

61. What is Inspection?
A group review quality improvement process for written material. It consists of two aspects; product (document itself) improvement and process improvement (of both document production and inspection).

62. What is Integration Testing?
Testing of combined parts of an application to determine if they function together correctly. Usually performed after unit and functional testing. This type of testing is especially relevant to client/server and distributed systems.

63. What is Installation Testing?
Confirms that the application under test recovers from expected or unexpected events without loss of data or functionality. Events can include shortage of disk space, unexpected loss of communication, or power out conditions.

64. What is Load Testing?
See Performance Testing.

65. What is Localization Testing?
This term refers to making software specifically designed for a specific locality.

66. What is Loop Testing?
A white box testing technique that exercises program loops.

67. What is Metric?
A standard of measurement. Software metrics are the statistics describing the structure or content of a program. A metric should be a real objective measurement of something such as number of bugs per lines of code.

68. What is Monkey Testing?
Testing a system or an Application on the fly, i.e just few tests here and there to ensure the system or an application does not crash out.

69. What is Negative Testing?
Testing aimed at showing software does not work. Also known as "test to fail". See also Positive Testing.

70. What is Path Testing?
Testing in which all paths in the program source code are tested at least once.

71. What is Performance Testing?
Testing conducted to evaluate the compliance of a system or component with specified performance requirements. Often this is performed using an automated test tool to simulate large number of users. Also know as "Load Testing".

72. What is Positive Testing?
Testing aimed at showing software works. Also known as "test to pass". See also Negative Testing.

73. What is Quality Assurance?
All those planned or systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service is of the type and quality needed and expected by the customer.

74. What is Quality Audit?
A systematic and independent examination to determine whether quality activities and related results comply with planned arrangements and whether these arrangements are implemented effectively and are suitable to achieve objectives.

75. What is Quality Circle?
A group of individuals with related interests that meet at regular intervals to consider problems or other matters related to the quality of outputs of a process and to the correction of problems or to the improvement of quality.

76. What is Quality Control?
The operational techniques and the activities used to fulfill and verify requirements of quality.

77. What is Quality Management?
That aspect of the overall management function that determines and implements the quality policy.

78. What is Quality Policy?
The overall intentions and direction of an organization as regards quality as formally expressed by top management.

79. What is Quality System?
The organizational structure, responsibilities, procedures, processes, and resources for implementing quality management.

80. What is Race Condition?
A cause of concurrency problems. Multiple accesses to a shared resource, at least one of which is a write, with no mechanism used by either to moderate simultaneous access.

81. What is Ramp Testing?
Continuously raising an input signal until the system breaks down.

82. What is Recovery Testing?
Confirms that the program recovers from expected or unexpected events without loss of data or functionality. Events can include shortage of disk space, unexpected loss of communication, or power out conditions.

83. What is Regression Testing?
Retesting a previously tested program following modification to ensure that faults have not been introduced or uncovered as a result of the changes made.

84. What is Release Candidate?
A pre-release version, which contains the desired functionality of the final version, but which needs to be tested for bugs (which ideally should be removed before the final version is released).

85. What is Sanity Testing?
Brief test of major functional elements of a piece of software to determine if its basically operational. See also Smoke Testing.

86. What is Scalability Testing?
Performance testing focused on ensuring the application under test gracefully handles increases in work load.

87. What is Security Testing?
Testing which confirms that the program can restrict access to authorized personnel and that the authorized personnel can access the functions available to their security level.

88. What is Smoke Testing?
A quick-and-dirty test that the major functions of a piece of software work. Originated in the hardware testing practice of turning on a new piece of hardware for the first time and considering it a success if it does not catch on fire.

89. What is Soak Testing?
Running a system at high load for a prolonged period of time. For example, running several times more transactions in an entire day (or night) than would be expected in a busy day, to identify and performance problems that appear after a large number of transactions have been executed.

90. What is Software Requirements Specification?
A deliverable that describes all data, functional and behavioral requirements, all constraints, and all validation requirements for software/

91. What is Software Testing?
A set of activities conducted with the intent of finding errors in software.

92. What is Static Analysis?
Analysis of a program carried out without executing the program.

93. What is Static Analyzer?
A tool that carries out static analysis.

94. What is Static Testing?
Analysis of a program carried out without executing the program.

95. What is Storage Testing?
Testing that verifies the program under test stores data files in the correct directories and that it reserves sufficient space to prevent unexpected termination resulting from lack of space. This is external storage as opposed to internal storage.

96. What is Stress Testing?
Testing conducted to evaluate a system or component at or beyond the limits of its specified requirements to determine the load under which it fails and how. Often this is performance testing using a very high level of simulated load.

97. What is Structural Testing?
Testing based on an analysis of internal workings and structure of a piece of software. See also White Box Testing.

98. What is System Testing?
Testing that attempts to discover defects that are properties of the entire system rather than of its individual components.

99. What is Testability?
The degree to which a system or component facilitates the establishment of test criteria and the performance of tests to determine whether those criteria have been met.

100. What is Testing?
The process of exercising software to verify that it satisfies specified requirements and to detect errors. The process of analyzing a software item to detect the differences between existing and required conditions (that is, bugs), and to evaluate the features of the software item (Ref. IEEE Std 829). 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. What is Test Automation? It is the same as Automated Testing.

101. What is Test Bed?
An execution environment configured for testing. May consist of specific hardware, OS, network topology, configuration of the product under test, other application or system software, etc. The Test Plan for a project should enumerated the test beds(s) to be used.

102. What is Test Case?
Test Case is a commonly used term for a specific test. This is usually the smallest unit of testing. A Test Case will consist of information such as requirements testing, test steps, verification steps, prerequisites, outputs, test environment, etc. A set of inputs, execution preconditions, and expected outcomes developed for a particular objective, such as to exercise a particular program path or to verify compliance with a specific requirement. Test Driven Development? Testing methodology associated with Agile Programming in which every chunk of code is covered by unit tests, which must all pass all the time, in an effort to eliminate unit-level and regression bugs during development. Practitioners of TDD write a lot of tests, i.e. an equal number of lines of test code to the size of the production code.

103. What is Test Driver?
A program or test tool used to execute a tests. Also known as a Test Harness.

104. What is Test Environment?
The hardware and software environment in which tests will be run, and any other software with which the software under test interacts when under test including stubs and test drivers.

105. What is Test First Design?
Test-first design is one of the mandatory practices of Extreme Programming (XP).It requires that programmers do not write any production code until they have first written a unit test.

106. What is Test Harness?
A program or test tool used to execute a tests. Also known as a Test Driver.

107. What is Test Plan?
A document describing the scope, approach, resources, and schedule of intended testing activities. It identifies test items, the features to be tested, the testing tasks, who will do each task, and any risks requiring contingency planning.

108. What is Test Procedure?
A document providing detailed instructions for the execution of one or more test cases.

109. What is Test Script?
Commonly used to refer to the instructions for a particular test that will be carried out by an automated test tool.

110. What is Test Specification?
A document specifying the test approach for a software feature or combination or features and the inputs, predicted results and execution conditions for the associated tests.

111. What is Test Suite?
A collection of tests used to validate the behavior of a product. The scope of a Test Suite varies from organization to organization. There may be several Test Suites for a particular product for example. In most cases however a Test Suite is a high level concept, grouping together hundreds or thousands of tests related by what they are intended to test.

112. What is Test Tools?
Computer programs used in the testing of a system, a component of the system, or its documentation.

113. What is Thread Testing?
A variation of top-down testing where the progressive integration of components follows the implementation of subsets of the requirements, as opposed to the integration of components by successively lower levels.

114. What is Top Down Testing?
An approach to integration testing where the component at the top of the component hierarchy is tested first, with lower level components being simulated by stubs. Tested components are then used to test lower level components. The process is repeated until the lowest level components have been tested.

115. What is Total Quality Management?
A company commitment to develop a process that achieves high quality product and customer satisfaction.

116. What is Traceability Matrix?
A document showing the relationship between Test Requirements and Test Cases.

117. What is Usability Testing?
Testing the ease with which users can learn and use a product.

118. What is Use Case?
The specification of tests that are conducted from the end-user perspective. Use cases tend to focus on operating software as an end-user would conduct their day-to-day activities.

119. What is Unit Testing?
Testing of individual software components.

120. What is Validation?
The process of evaluating software at the end of the software development process to ensure compliance with software requirements. The techniques for validation is testing, inspection and reviewing.

121. What is Verification?
The process of determining whether of not the products of a given phase of the software development cycle meet the implementation steps and can be traced to the incoming objectives established during the previous phase. The techniques for verification are testing, inspection and reviewing.

122. What is White Box Testing?
Testing based on an analysis of internal workings and structure of a piece of software. Includes techniques such as Branch Testing and Path Testing. Also known as Structural Testing and Glass Box Testing. Contrast with Black Box Testing. White box testing is used to test the internal logic of the code for ex checking whether the path has been executed once, checking whether the branches has been executed atleast once .....Used to check the structure of the code.

123. What is Workflow Testing?
Scripted end-to-end testing which duplicates specific workflows which are expected to be utilized by the end-user.

124. What's the difference between load and stress testing ?
One of the most common, but unfortunate misuse of terminology is treating “load testing” and “stress testing” as synonymous. The consequence of this ignorant semantic abuse is usually that the system is neither properly “load tested” nor subjected to a meaningful stress test. Stress testing is subjecting a system to an unreasonable load while denying it the resources (e.g., RAM, disc, mips, interrupts, etc.) needed to process that load. The idea is to stress a system to the breaking point in order to find bugs that will make that break potentially harmful. The system is not expected to process the overload without adequate resources, but to behave (e.g., fail) in a decent manner (e.g., not corrupting or losing data). Bugs and failure modes discovered under stress testing may or may not be repaired depending on the application, the failure mode, consequences, etc. The load (incoming transaction stream) in stress testing is often deliberately distorted so as to force the system into resource depletion. Load testing is subjecting a system to a statistically representative (usually) load. The two main reasons for using such loads is in support of software reliability testing and in performance testing. The term 'load testing' by itself is too vague and imprecise to warrant use. For example, do you mean representative load,' 'overload,' 'high load,' etc. In performance testing, load is varied from a minimum (zero) to the maximum level the system can sustain without running out of resources or having, transactions >suffer (application-specific) excessive delay. A third use of the term is as a test whose objective is to determine the maximum sustainable load the system can handle. In this usage, 'load testing' is merely testing at the highest transaction arrival rate in performance testing.

125. What's the difference between QA and testing?
QA is more a preventive thing, ensuring quality in the company and therefore the product rather than just testing the product for software bugs? TESTING means 'quality control' QUALITY CONTROL measures the quality of a product QUALITY ASSURANCE measures the quality of processes used to create a quality product.

126. What is the best tester to developer ratio?
Reported tester: developer ratios range from 10:1 to 1:10. There's no simple answer. It depends on so many things, Amount of reused code, number and type of interfaces, platform, quality goals, etc. It also can depend on the development model. The more specs, the less testers. The roles can play a big part also. Does QA own beta? Do you include process auditors or planning activities? These figures can all vary very widely depending on how you define 'tester' and 'developer'. In some organizations, a 'tester' is anyone who happens to be testing software at the time -- such as their own. In other organizations, a 'tester' is only a member of an independent test group. It is better to ask about the test labor content than it is to ask about the tester/developer ratio. The test labor content, across most applications is generally accepted as 50%, when people do honest accounting. For life-critical software, this can go up to 80%.

127. 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. - In all cases the most value for effort will be in requirements management processes, with a goal of clear, complete, testable requirement specifications or expectations.

128. What are 5 common problems in the software development process?
1. poor requirements - if requirements are unclear, incomplete, too general, or not testable, there will be problems. 2. unrealistic schedule - if too much work is crammed in too little time, problems are inevitable. 3. inadequate testing - no one will know whether or not the program is any good until the customer complains or systems crash. 4. features - requests to pile on new features after development is underway; extremely common. 5. miscommunication - if developers don't know what's needed or customer's have erroneous expectations, problems are guaranteed.

129. What are 5 common solutions to software development problems?
1. solid requirements - clear, complete, detailed, cohesive, attainable, testable requirements that are agreed to by all players. Use prototypes to help nail down requirements. 2. 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. 3. adequate testing - start testing early on, re-test after fixes or changes, plan for adequate time for testing and bug-fixing. 4. 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. 5. 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 prototypes early on so that customers' expectations are clarified.

130. What is 'good code'?
'Good code' is code that works, is bug free, and is readable and maintainable. Some organizations have coding 'standards' that all developers are supposed to adhere to, but everyone has different ideas about what's best, or what is too many or too few rules. There are also various theories and metrics, such as McCabe Complexity metrics. It should be kept in mind that excessive use of standards and rules can stifle productivity and creativity. 'Peer reviews', 'buddy checks' code analysis tools, etc. can be used to check for problems and enforce standards. For C and C++ coding, here are some typical ideas to consider in setting rules/standards; these may or may not apply to a particular situation: - minimize or eliminate use of global variables. - use descriptive function and method names - use both upper and lower case, avoid abbreviations, use as many characters as necessary to be adequately descriptive (use of more than 20 characters is not out of line); be consistent in naming conventions. - use descriptive variable names - use both upper and lower case, avoid abbreviations, use as many characters as necessary to be adequately descriptive (use of more than 20 characters is not out of line); be consistent in naming conventions. - function and method sizes should be minimized; less than 100 lines of code is good, less than 50 lines is preferable. - function descriptions should be clearly spelled out in comments preceding a function's code.- organize code for readability. - use whitespace generously - vertically and horizontally - each line of code should contain 70 characters max. - one code statement per line. - coding style should be consistent throughout a program (eg, use of brackets, indentations, naming conventions, etc.) - in adding comments, err on the side of too many rather than too few comments; a common rule of thumb is that there should be at least as many lines of comments (including header blocks) as lines of code. - no matter how small, an application should include documentation of the overall program function and flow (even a few paragraphs is better than nothing); or if possible a separate flow chart and detailed program documentation. - make extensive use of error handling procedures and status and error logging. - for C++, to minimize complexity and increase maintainability, avoid too many levels of inheritance in class hierarchies (relative to the size and complexity of the application). Minimize use of multiple inheritance, and minimize use of operator overloading (note that the Java programming language eliminates multiple inheritance and operator overloading.) - for C++, keep class methods small, less than 50 lines of code per method is preferable. - for C++, make liberal use of exception handlers

131. What is 'good design'?
'Design' could refer to many things, but often refers to 'functional design' or 'internal design'. 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. For programs that have a user interface, it's often a good idea to assume that the end user will have little computer knowledge and may not read a user manual or even the on-line help; some common rules-of-thumb include: - the program should act in a way that least surprises the user - it should always be evident to the user what can be done next and how to exit - the program shouldn't let the users do something stupid without warning them.

132. 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. Judgment skills are needed to assess high-risk areas of an application on which to focus testing efforts when time is limited.

133. 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.

134. What makes a good QA or Test manager?
A good QA, test, or QA/Test(combined) manager should: - be familiar with the software development process - be able to maintain enthusiasm of their team and promote a positive atmosphere, despite what is a somewhat 'negative' process (e.g., looking for or preventing problems) - be able to promote teamwork to increase productivity - be able to promote cooperation between software, test, and QA engineers - have the diplomatic skills needed to promote improvements in QA processes -have the ability to withstand pressures and say 'no' to other managers when quality is insufficient or QA processes are not being adhered to - have people judgement skills for hiring and keeping skilled personnel- be able to communicate with technical and non-technical people, engineers, managers, and customers. - be able to run meetings and keep them focused

135. 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.

136. 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.

137. 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

138. 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.

139. 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.

140. 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

141. 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. (If warranted, formal methods are also available.) 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?

142. 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).

143. 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.

144. 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.

145. 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 bureaucracy, 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.

146. 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

147. 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.

148.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? - 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.

149. 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.

150. 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 develop 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.

151. 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. Note that there are record/playback tools for text-based interfaces also, and for all types of platforms.- 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.

152. What's the difference between black box and white box testing?
Black-box and white-box are test design methods. Black-box test design treats the system as a “black-box”, so it doesn't explicitly use knowledge of the internal structure. Black-box test design is usually described as focusing on testing functional requirements. Synonyms for black-box include: behavioral, functional, opaque-box, and closed-box. White-box test design allows one to peek inside the “box”, and it focuses specifically on using internal knowledge of the software to guide the selection of test data. Synonyms for white-box include: structural, glass-box and clear-box. While black-box and white-box are terms that are still in popular use, many people prefer the terms 'behavioral' and 'structural'. Behavioral test design is slightly different from black-box test design because the use of internal knowledge isn't strictly forbidden, but it's still discouraged. In practice, it hasn't proven useful to use a single test design method. One has to use a mixture of different methods so that they aren't hindered by the limitations of a particular one. Some call this 'gray-box' or 'translucent-box' test design, but others wish we'd stop talking about boxes altogether.It is important to understand that these methods are used during the test design phase, and their influence is hard to see in the tests once they're implemented. Note that any level of testing (unit testing, system testing, etc.) can use any test design methods. Unit testing is usually associated with structural test design, but this is because testers usually don't have well-defined requirements at the unit level to validate.

153. What kinds of testing should be considered?
Black box testing - not based on any knowledge of internal design or code. Tests are based on requirements and functionality. 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. 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. 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. functional testing - black-box type testing geared to functional requirements of an application; this type of testing should be done by testers. This doesn't mean that the programmers shouldn't check that their code works before releasing it (which of course applies to any stage of testing.) system testing - black-box type testing that is based on overall requirements specifications; covers all combined parts of a system. end-to-end testing - similar to system testing; 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. sanity testing or smoke 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 corrupting databases, the software may not be in a 'sane' enough condition to warrant further testing in its current state. 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. 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. 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.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. 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.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. install/uninstall testing - testing of full, partial, or upgrade install/uninstall processes. recovery testing - testing how well a system recovers from crashes, hardware failures, or other catastrophic problems. failover testing - typically used interchangeably with 'recovery testing'security testing - testing how well the system protects against unauthorized internal or external access, willful damage, etc; may require sophisticated testing techniques. compatibility testing - testing how well software performs in a particular hardware/software/operating system/network/etc. environment. 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. ad-hoc testing - similar to exploratory testing, but often taken to mean that the testers have significant understanding of the software before testing it. context-driven testing - testing driven by an understanding of the environment, culture, and intended use of software. For example, the testing approach for life-critical medical equipment software would be completely different than that for a low-cost computer game. user acceptance testing - determining if software is satisfactory to an end-user or customer. comparison testing - comparing software weaknesses and strengths to competing products. alpha testing - testing of an application when development is nearing completion; minor design changes may still be made as a result of such testing. Typically done by end-users or others, not by programmers or testers. beta testing - testing when development and testing are essentially completed and final bugs and problems need to be found before final release. Typically done by end-users or others, not by programmers or testers. 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.

154. 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.This is illustrated by an old parable:In ancient China there was a family of healers, one of whom was known throughout the land and employed as a physician to a great lord. The physician was asked which of his family was the most skillful healer. He replied, "I tend to the sick and dying with drastic and dramatic treatments, and on occasion someone is cured and my name gets out among the lords.""My elder brother cures sickness when it just begins to take root, and his skills are known among the local peasants and neighbors." "My eldest brother is able to sense the spirit of sickness and eradicate it before it takes form. His name is unknown outside our home."

155. Why does software have bugs?
1. Miscommunication or no communication - as to specifics of what an application should or shouldn't do (the application's requirements). 2. Software complexity - the complexity of current software applications can be difficult to comprehend for anyone without experience in modern-day software development. Multi-tiered applications, client-server and distributed applications, data communications, enormous relational databases, and sheer size of applications have all contributed to the exponential growth in software/system complexity. programming errors - programmers, like anyone else, can make mistakes. 3. Changing requirements (whether documented or undocumented) - the end-user may not understand the effects of changes, or may understand and request them anyway - redesign, rescheduling of engineers, effects on other projects, work already completed that may have to be redone or thrown out, hardware requirements that may be affected, etc. If there are many minor changes or any major changes, known and unknown dependencies among parts of the project are likely to interact and cause problems, and the complexity of coordinating changes may result in errors. Enthusiasm of engineering staff may be affected. In some fast-changing business environments, continuously modified requirements may be a fact of life. In this case, management must understand the resulting risks, and QA and test engineers must adapt and plan for continuous extensive testing to keep the inevitable bugs from running out of control. 3. 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, maintainable code. In fact, it's usually the opposite: they get points mostly for quickly turning out code, and there's job security if nobody else can understand it ('if it was hard to write, it should be hard to read'). 4. software development tools - visual tools, class libraries, compilers, scripting tools, etc. often introduce their own bugs or are poorly documented, resulting in added bugs.

156. 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. The most value for effort will often be in (a) requirements management processes, with a goal of clear, complete, testable requirement specifications embodied in requirements or design documentation, or in 'agile'-type environments extensive continuous coordination with end-users, (b) design inspections and code inspections, and (c) post-mortems/retrospectives.

157. how do the companies expect the defect reporting to be communicated by the tester to the development team. Can the excel sheet template be used for defect reporting. If so what are the common fields that are to be included ? who assigns the priority and severity of the defect
To report bugs in excel: Sno. Module Screen/ Section Issue detail SeverityPriority Issuestatusthis is how to report bugs in excel sheet and also set filters on the Columns attributes.But most of the companies use the share point process of reporting bugs In this when the project came for testing a module wise detail of project is inserted to the defect management system they are using. It contains following field1. Date2. Issue brief3. Issue description (used for developer to regenerate the issue)4. Issue status ( active, resolved, onhold, suspend and not able to regenerate)5. Assign to (Names of members allocated to project)6. Priority (High, medium and low)7. severity (Major, medium and low)

158. What are the tables in testplans and testcases?
Test plan is a document that contains the scope, approach, test design and test strategies. It includes the following:-1. Test case identifier2. Scope3.Features to be tested4. Features not to be tested.5. Test strategy.6. Test Approach7. Test Deliverables8. Responsibilities.9 Staffing and Training10.Risk and Contingencies11. ApprovalWhile A test case is a noted/documented set of steps/activities that are carried out or executed on the software in order to confirm its functionality/behavior to certain set of inputs.

159. What are the table contents in testplans and test cases?
Test Plan is a document which is prepared with the details of the testing priority. A test Plan generally includes: 1. Objective of Testing2. Scope of Testing3. Reason for testing4. Timeframe5. Environment6. Entrance and exit criteria7. Risk factors involved8. Deliverables

160. What automating testing tools are you familiar with?
Win Runner , Load runner, QTP , Silk Performer, Test director, Rational robot, QA run.

161. How did you use automating testing tools in your job?
1. For regression testing2. Criteria to decide the condition of a particular build3. Describe some problem that you had with automating testing tool.The problem of winrunner identifying the third party controls like infragistics control.

162. How do you plan test automation?
1. Prepare the automation Test plan2. Identify the scenario3. Record the scenario4. Enhance the scripts by inserting check points and Conditional Loops5. Incorporated Error Handler6. Debug the script7. Fix the issue8. Rerun the script and report the result.

163. Can test automation improve test effectiveness?
Yes, Automating a test makes the test process:1.Fast2.Reliable3. Repeatable4.Programmable5.Reusable6.Comprehensive6. What is data - driven automation?Testing the functionality with more test cases becomes laborious as the functionality grows. For multiple sets of data (test cases), you can execute the test once in which you can figure out for which data it has failed and for which data, the test has passed. This feature is available in the WinRunner with the data driven test where the data can be taken from an excel sheet or notepad.

164. What are the main attributes of test automation?
software test automation attributes :Maintainability - the effort needed to update the test automation suites for each new releaseReliability - the accuracy and repeatability of the test automationFlexibility - the ease of working with all the different kinds of automation test wareEfficiency - the total cost related to the effort needed for the automationPortability - the ability of the automated test to run on different environmentsRobustness - the effectiveness of automation on an unstable or rapidly changing systemUsability - the extent to which automation can be used by different types of users

165. Does automation replace manual testing?
There can be some functionality which cannot be tested in an automated tool so we may have to do it manually. therefore manual testing can never be replaced. (We can write the scripts for negative testing also but it is hectic task).When we talk about real environment we do negative testing manually.

166. How will you choose a tool for test automation?
choosing of a tool depends on many things ...1. Application to be tested2. Test environment3. Scope and limitation of the tool.4. Feature of the tool.5. Cost of the tool.6. Whether the tool is compatible with your application which means tool should be able to interact with your application7. Ease of use

167. How you will evaluate the tool for test automation?
We need to concentrate on the features of the tools and how this could be beneficial for our project. The additional new features and the enhancements of the features will also help.

168. What are main benefits of test automation?
FAST ,RELIABLE,COMPREHENSIVE,REUSABLE

169. What could go wrong with test automation?
1. The choice of automation tool for certain technologies 2. Wrong set of test automated

170. How you will describe testing activities?
Testing activities start from the elaboration phase. The various testing activities are preparing the test plan, Preparing test cases, Execute the test case, Log the bug, validate the bug & take appropriate action for the bug, Automate the test cases.

171. What testing activities you may want to automate?
Automate all the high priority test cases which needs to be executed as a part of regression testing for each build cycle.

172. Describe common problems of test automation.
The common problems are:1. Maintenance of the old script when there is a feature change or enhancement2. The change in technology of the application will affect the old scripts

173. What types of scripting techniques for test automation do you know?
5 types of scripting techniques:LinearStructuredSharedData DrivenKey Driven

174. What are principles of good testing scripts for automation?
1. Proper code guiding standards2. Standard format for defining functions, exception handler etc3. Comments for functions4. Proper errorhandling mechanisms5. The appropriate synchronisation techniques18. What tools are available for support of testing during software development life cycle?Testing tools for regression and load/stress testing for regression testing like, QTP, load runner, rational robot, winrunner, silk, testcomplete, Astra are available in the market. -For defect tracking BugZilla, Test Runner are available.

175. Can the activities of test case design be automated?
As I know it, test case design is about formulating the steps to be carried out to verify something about the application under test. And this cannot be automated. However, I agree that the process of putting the test results into the excel sheet.

176. What are the limitations of automating software testing?
Hard-to-create environments like “out of memory”, “invalid input/reply”, and “corrupt registry entries” make applications behave poorly and existing automated tools can’t force these condition - they simply test your application in “normal” environment.

177. What skills needed to be a good test automator?
1.Good Logic for programming.2. Analytical skills.3.Pessimestic in Nature.

178. How to find that tools work well with your existing system?
1. Discuss with the support officials2. Download the trial version of the tool and evaluate3. Get suggestions from people who are working on the tool

179. Describe some problem that you had with automating testing tool
1. The inability of winrunner to identify the third party control like infragistics controls2. The change of the location of the table object will cause object not found error.3. The inability of the winrunner to execute the script against multiple languages

180. What are the main attributes of test automation?
Maintainability, Reliability, Flexibility, Efficiency, Portability, Robustness, and Usability - these are the main attributes in test automation.

181. What testing activities you may want to automate in a project?
Testing tools can be used for :* Sanity tests(which is repeated on every build),* stress/Load tests(U simulate a large no of users, which is manually impossible) &* Regression tests(which are done after every code change)

182. How to find that tools work well with your existing system?
To find this, select the suite of tests which are most important for your application. First run them with automated tool. Next subject the same tests to careful manual testing. If the results are coinciding you can say your testing tool has been performing.

183. How will you test the field that generates auto numbers of AUT when we click the button 'NEW" in the application?
We can create a textfile in a certain location, and update the auto generated value each time we run the test and compare the currently generated value with the previous one will be one solution.

184. How will you evaluate the fields in the application under test using automation tool?
We can use Verification points(rational Robot) to validate the fields .Ex.Using objectdata, objectdata properties VP we can validate fields.

185. Can we perform the test of single application at the same time using different tools on the same machine?
No. The Testing Tools will be in the ambiguity to determine which browser is opened by which tool.

186. Difference between Web application Testing and Client Server Testing. State the different types for Web application Testing and Client Server Testing types?
which winrunner 7.2 version compatible with internet explorer, firefox

187. What is 'configuration management'?
Configuration management is a process to control and document any changes made during the life of a project. Revision control, Change Control, and Release Control are important aspects of Configuration Management.

188. How to test the Web applications?
The basic difference in webtesting is here we have to test for URL's coverage and links coverage. Using WinRunner we can conduct webtesting. But we have to make sure that Webtest option is selected in "Add in Manager". Using WR we cannot test XML objects.

189. What are the problems encountered during the testing the application compatibility on different browsers and on different operating systems
Font issues, alignment issues

190. How exactly the testing the application compatibility on different browsers and on different operating systems is done
Please submit Your Suggestion to our forum at http://www.fyicenter.com

191. How testing is proceeded when SRS or any other document is not given?
If SRS is not there we can perform Exploratory testing. In Exploratory testing the basic module is executed and depending on its results, the next plan is executed.

192. How do we test for severe memory leakages ?
By using Endurance Testing . Endurance Testing means checking for memory leaks or other problems that may occur with prolonged execution.

193. What is the difference between quality assurance and testing?
Quality assurance involves the entire software development process and testing involves operation of a system or application to evaluate the results under certain conditions. QA is oriented to prevention and Testing is oriented to detection.

194. Why does software have bugs?
1.miscommunication2.programming errors3.time pressures.4.changing requirements5.software complexity

195. How do u do usability testing, security testing, installation testing, ADHOC, safety and smoke testing?
Please submit Your Suggestion to our forum at http://www.fyicenter.com

196. What is memory leaks and buffer overflows ?
Memory leaks means incomplete deallocation - are bugs that happen very often. Buffer overflow means data sent as input to the server that overflows the boundaries of the input area, thus causing the server to misbehave. Buffer overflows can be used.

197. What are the major differences between stress testing,load testing,Volume testing?
Stress testing means increasing the load ,and checking the performance at each level. Load testing means at a time giving more load by the expectation and checking the performance at that level. Volume testing means first we have to apply initial.

198. What is Exhaustive Testing?
Testing which covers all combinations of input values and preconditions for an element of the software under test.

199. What is Functional Decomposition?
A technique used during planning, analysis and design; creates a functional hierarchy for the software.

200. What is Functional Specification?
A document that describes in detail the characteristics of the product with regard to its intended features.