ISTQB Certification Foundation Level Terms 2


co-existence: The capability of the software product to co-exist with other independent
software in a common environment sharing common resources

compiler: A software tool that translates programs expressed in a high order language into
their machine language equivalent.

complexity: The degree to which a component or system has a design and/or internal
structure that is difficult to understand, maintain and verify.

compliance: The capability of the software product to adhere to standards, conventions or
regulations in laws and similar prescriptions.

compliance testing: The process of testing to determine the compliance of the component or
system.

component: A minimal software item that can be tested in isolation.

component integration testing: Testing performed to expose defects in the interfaces and
interaction between integrated components.

component specification: A description of a component’s function in terms of its output
values for specified input values under specified conditions, and required non-functional
behavior (e.g. resource-utilization).

component testing: The testing of individual software components.

compound condition: Two or more single conditions joined by means of a logical operator
(AND, OR or XOR), e.g. ‘A>B AND C>1000’.

concurrency testing: Testing to determine how the occurrence of two or more activities
within the same interval of time, achieved either by interleaving the activities or by
simultaneous execution, is handled by the component or system.

condition: A logical expression that can be evaluated as True or False, e.g. A>B. See also test
condition.

condition coverage: The percentage of condition outcomes that have been exercised by a test
suite. 100% condition coverage requires each single condition in every decision statement
to be tested as True and False.

condition determination coverage: The percentage of all single condition outcomes that
independently affect a decision outcome that have been exercised by a test case suite.
100% condition determination coverage implies 100% decision condition coverage.

condition determination testing: A white box test design technique in which test cases are
designed to execute single condition outcomes that independently affect a decision
outcome.

condition testing: A white box test design technique in which test cases are designed to
execute condition outcomes.

condition outcome: The evaluation of a condition to True or False.

configuration: The composition of a component or system as defined by the number, nature,
and interconnections of its constituent parts.

configuration auditing: The function to check on the contents of libraries of configuration
items, e.g. for standards compliance.

configuration control: An element of configuration management, consisting of the
evaluation, co-ordination, approval or disapproval, and implementation of changes to
configuration items after formal establishment of their configuration identification

configuration control board (CCB): A group of people responsible for evaluating and
approving or disapproving proposed changes to configuration items, and for ensuring
implementation of approved changes.

configuration identification: An element of configuration management, consisting of
selecting the configuration items for a system and recording their functional and physical
characteristics in technical documentation.

configuration item: An aggregation of hardware, software or both, that is designated for
configuration management and treated as a single entity in the configuration management
process. [

configuration management: A discipline applying technical and administrative direction and
surveillance to: identify and document the functional and physical characteristics of a
configuration item, control changes to those characteristics, record and report change
processing and implementation status, and verify compliance with specified requirements.

configuration management tool: A tool that provides support for the identification and
control of configuration items, their status over changes and versions, and the release of
baselines consisting of configuration items.

consistency: The degree of uniformity, standardization, and freedom from contradiction
among the documents or parts of a component or system.

control flow: A sequence of events (paths) in the execution through a component or system.

control flow analysis: A form of static analysis based on a representation of sequences of
events (paths) in the execution through a component or system.

control flow graph: An abstract representation of all possible sequences of events (paths) in
the execution through a component or system.

continuous representation: A capability maturity model structure wherein capability levels
provide a recommended order for approaching process improvement within specified
process areas.

conversion testing: Testing of software used to convert data from existing systems for use in
replacement systems.

cost of quality: The total costs incurred on quality activities and issues and often split into
prevention costs, appraisal costs, internal failure costs and external failure costs.

COTS: Acronym for Commercial Off-The-Shelf software.

coverage: The degree, expressed as a percentage, to which a specified coverage item has been
exercised by a test suite.

coverage analysis: Measurement of achieved coverage to a specified coverage item during
test execution referring to predetermined criteria to determine whether additional testing is
required and if so, which test cases are needed.

coverage item: An entity or property used as a basis for test coverage, e.g. equivalence
partitions or code statements.

coverage tool: A tool that provides objective measures of what structural elements, e.g.
statements, branches have been exercised by a test suite.

cyclomatic complexity: The number of independent paths through a program. Cyclomatic
complexity is defined as: L – N + 2P, where
- L = the number of edges/links in a graph
- N = the number of nodes in a graph
- P = the number of disconnected parts of the graph (e.g. a called graph and a subroutine)

daily build: a development activity where a complete system is compiled and linked every
day (usually overnight), so that a consistent system is available at any time including all
latest changes.

data definition: An executable statement where a variable is assigned a value.

data driven testing: A scripting technique that stores test input and expected results in a table
or spreadsheet, so that a single control script can execute all of the tests in the table. Data
driven testing is often used to support the application of test execution tools such as
capture/playback tools.

data flow: An abstract representation of the sequence and possible changes of the state of
data objects, where the state of an object is any of: creation, usage, or destruction.

data flow analysis: A form of static analysis based on the definition and usage of variables.

data flow coverage: The percentage of definition-use pairs that have been exercised by a test
suite.

data flow testing: A white box test design technique in which test cases are designed to
execute definition and use pairs of variables.

database integrity testing: Testing the methods and processes used to access and manage the
data(base), to ensure access methods, processes and data rules function as expected and
that during access to the database, data is not corrupted or unexpectedly deleted, updated or
created.

debugging: The process of finding, analyzing and removing the causes of failures in
software.

debugging tool: A tool used by programmers to reproduce failures, investigate the state of
programs and find the corresponding defect. Debuggers enable programmers to execute
programs step by step, to halt a program at any program statement and to set and examine
program variables.

decision: A program point at which the control flow has two or more alternative routes. A
node with two or more links to separate branches.

decision condition coverage: The percentage of all condition outcomes and decision
outcomes that have been exercised by a test suite. 100% decision condition coverage
implies both 100% condition coverage and 100% decision coverage.

decision condition testing: A white box test design technique in which test cases are
designed to execute condition outcomes and decision outcomes.

decision coverage: The percentage of decision outcomes that have been exercised by a test
suite. 100% decision coverage implies both 100% branch coverage and 100% statement
coverage.

decision outcome: The result of a decision (which therefore determines the branches to be
taken).

decision table: A table showing combinations of inputs and/or stimuli (causes) with their
associated outputs and/or actions (effects), which can be used to design test cases.

decision table testing: A black box test design technique in which test cases are designed to
execute the combinations of inputs and/or stimuli (causes) shown in a decision table.
decision testing: A white box test design technique in which test cases are designed to
execute decision outcomes.

defect: A flaw in a component or system that can cause the component or system to fail to
perform its required function, e.g. an incorrect statement or data definition. A defect, if
encountered during execution, may cause a failure of the component or system.

defect based test design technique: A procedure to derive and/or select test cases targeted at
one or more defect categories, with tests being developed from what is known about the
specific defect category.

defect density: The number of defects identified in a component or system divided by the
size of the component or system (expressed in standard measurement terms, e.g. lines-ofcode,
number of classes or function points).

Defect Detection Percentage (DDP): The number of defects found by a test phase, divided
by the number found by that test phase and any other means afterwards.

defect management: The process of recognizing, investigating, taking action and disposing
of defects. It involves recording defects, classifying them and identifying the impact.

defect management tool: A tool that facilitates the recording and status tracking of defects
and changes. They often have workflow-oriented facilities to track and control the
allocation, correction and re-testing of defects and provide reporting facilities.

defect masking: An occurrence in which one defect prevents the detection of another.

defect report: A document reporting on any flaw in a component or system that can cause the
component or system to fail to perform its required function.

defect taxonomy: A system of (hierarchical) categories designed to be a useful aid for
reproducibly classifying defects.

definition-use pair: The association of the definition of a variable with the use of that
variable. Variable uses include computational (e.g. multiplication) or to direct the
execution of a path (“predicate” use).

deliverable: Any (work) product that must be delivered to someone other than the (work)
product’s author.

design-based testing: An approach to testing in which test cases are designed based on the
architecture and/or detailed design of a component or system (e.g. tests of interfaces
between components or systems).

desk checking: Testing of software or specification by manual simulation of its execution.

development testing: Formal or informal testing conducted during the implementation of a
component or system, usually in the development environment by developers.

documentation testing: Testing the quality of the documentation, e.g. user guide or
installation guide.

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