acceptance
criteria: The
exit criteria that a component or system must satisfy in order to be
accepted by a user, customer, or
other authorized entity.
acceptance
testing: Formal
testing with respect to user needs, requirements, and business
processes conducted to determine
whether or not a system satisfies the acceptance criteria
and to enable the user, customers
or other authorized entity to determine whether or not to
accept the system.
accessibility
testing: Testing
to determine the ease by which users with disabilities can use a
component or system.
accuracy: The capability
of the software product to provide the right or agreed results or effects
with the needed degree of precision.
actual result: The behavior
produced/observed when a component or system is tested.
ad hoc testing: Testing carried
out informally; no formal test preparation takes place, no
recognized test design technique
is used, there are no expectations for results and
arbitrariness guides the test
execution activity.
adaptability: The capability
of the software product to be adapted for different specified
environments without applying
actions or means other than those provided for this purpose
for the software considered.
agile testing: Testing practice
for a project using agile methodologies, such as extreme
programming (XP), treating
development as the customer of testing and emphasizing the
test-first design paradigm.
alpha testing: Simulated or
actual operational testing by potential users/customers or an
independent test team at the
developers’ site, but outside the development organization.
Alpha testing is often employed
for off-the-shelf software as a form of internal acceptance
testing.
analyzability: The capability
of the software product to be diagnosed for deficiencies or causes
of failures in the software, or
for the parts to be modified to be identified.
anomaly: Any condition
that deviates from expectation based on requirements specifications,
design documents, user documents,
standards, etc. or from someone’s perception or
experience. Anomalies may be
found during, but not limited to, reviewing, testing,
analysis, compilation, or use of
software products or applicable documentation.
attack: Directed and
focused attempt to evaluate the quality, especially reliability, of a test
object by attempting to force
specific failures to occur.
attractiveness: The capability
of the software product to be attractive to the user.
audit: An independent
evaluation of software products or processes to ascertain compliance
to standards, guidelines,
specifications, and/or procedures based on objective criteria,
including documents that specify:
(1) the form or content of the
products to be produced
(2) the process by which the
products shall be produced
(3) how compliance to standards
or guidelines shall be measured.
audit trail: A path by which
the original input to a process (e.g. data) can be traced back
through the process, taking the
process output as a starting point. This facilitates defect
analysis and allows a process
audit to be carried out.
automated
testware: Testware
used in automated testing, such as tool scripts.
availability: The degree to
which a component or system is operational and accessible when
required for use. Often expressed
as a percentage.
back-to-back
testing: Testing
in which two or more variants of a component or system are
executed with the same inputs,
the outputs compared, and analyzed in cases of
discrepancies.
baseline: A specification
or software product that has been formally reviewed or agreed upon,
that thereafter serves as the
basis for further development, and that can be changed only
through a formal change control
process.
basic block: A sequence of
one or more consecutive executable statements containing no
branches. Note: A node in a
control flow graph represents a basic block.
basis test set: A set of test
cases derived from the internal structure of a component or
specification to ensure that 100%
of a specified coverage criterion will be achieved.
behavior: The response of
a component or system to a set of input values and preconditions.
benchmark test: (1) A standard
against which measurements or comparisons can be made.
(2) A test that is be used to
compare components or systems to each other or to a standard
as in (1).
bespoke
software: Software
developed specifically for a set of users or customers. The
opposite is off-the-shelf
software.
best practice: A superior
method or innovative practice that contributes to the improved
performance of an organization
under given context, usually recognized as ‘best’ by other
peer organizations.
beta testing: Operational
testing by potential and/or existing users/customers at an external
site not otherwise involved with
the developers, to determine whether or not a component
or system satisfies the
user/customer needs and fits within the business processes. Beta
testing is often employed as a
form of external acceptance testing for off-the-shelf software
in order to acquire feedback from
the market.
big-bang
testing: A
type of integration testing in which software elements, hardware
elements, or both are combined
all at once into a component or an overall system, rather
than in stages.
black-box
testing: Testing,
either functional or non-functional, without reference to the
internal structure of the
component or system.
black-box test
design technique: Procedure
to derive and/or select test cases based on an
analysis of the specification,
either functional or non-functional, of a component or system
without reference to its internal
structure.
blocked test
case: A
test case that cannot be executed because the preconditions for its
execution are not fulfilled.
bottom-up
testing: An
incremental approach to integration testing where the lowest level
components are tested first, and
then used to facilitate the testing of higher level
components. This process is
repeated until the component at the top of the hierarchy is
tested.
boundary value: An input value
or output value which is on the edge of an equivalence
partition or at the smallest
incremental distance on either side of an edge, for example the
minimum or maximum value of a
range.
boundary value
analysis: A
black box test design technique in which test cases are designed
based on boundary values.
boundary value
coverage: The
percentage of boundary values that have been exercised by a
test suite.
branch: A basic block
that can be selected for execution based on a program construct in
which one of two or more
alternative program paths is available, e.g. case, jump, go to, ifthen-
else.
branch coverage:
The
percentage of branches that have been exercised by a test suite. 100%
branch coverage implies both 100%
decision coverage and 100% statement coverage.
branch testing: A white box test
design technique in which test cases are designed to execute
branches.
buffer: A device or
storage area used to store data temporarily for differences in rates of data
flow, time or occurrence of
events, or amounts of data that can be handeld by the devices
or processes involved in the
transfer or use of the data.
buffer overflow:
A
memory access defect due to the attempt by a process to store data
beyond the boundaries of a fixed
length buffer, resulting in overwriting of adjacent
memory areas or the raising of an
overflow exception.
business
process-based testing: An approach to testing in which test cases are
designed
based on descriptions and/or
knowledge of business processes.
Capability
Maturity Model (CMM): A five level staged framework that describes the key
elements of an effective software
process. The Capability Maturity Model covers bestpractices
for planning, engineering and
managing software development and maintenance.
[CMM] See also Capability
Maturity Model Integration (CMMI).
Capability
Maturity Model Integration (CMMI): A framework that describes the key
elements of an effective product
development and maintenance process. The Capability
Maturity Model Integration covers
best-practices for planning, engineering and managing
product development and
maintenance. CMMI is the designated successor of the CMM.
[CMMI]
capture/playback
tool: A
type of test execution tool where inputs are recorded during
manual testing in order to
generate automated test scripts that can be executed later (i.e.
replayed). These tools are often
used to support automated regression testing.
CASE: Acronym for
Computer Aided Software Engineering.
CAST: Acronym for Computer
Aided Software Testing.
cause-effect
graph: A
graphical representation of inputs and/or stimuli (causes) with their
associated outputs (effects),
which can be used to design test cases.
cause-effect
graphing: A
black box test design technique in which test cases are designed
from cause-effect graphs.
certification: The process of
confirming that a component, system or person complies with
its specified requirements, e.g.
by passing an exam.
changeability: The capability
of the software product to enable specified modifications to be
implemented.
classification
tree:
A tree showing equivalence parititions hierarchically ordered, which is
used to design test cases in the
classification tree method. See also classification tree
method.
classification
tree method: A
black box test design technique in which test cases, described
by means of a classification
tree, are designed to execute combinations of representatives
of input and/or output domains.
code: Computer
instructions and data definitions expressed in a programming language or in
a form output by an assembler,
compiler or other translator.
code coverage: An analysis
method that determines which parts of the software have been
executed (covered) by the test
suite and which parts have not been executed, e.g. statement
coverage, decision coverage or
condition coverage.
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