An engineering approach to Software Testing and Test Automation

I created this mindmap quite a while ago, as a follow-up to Data Container Boundaries and Complex Data Boundaries blog posts. Due to poor visualization capabilities of Freemind, I used previously, (before going with XMind), I decided to draw the mindmap manually, in MS Paint. That took me loooong time but I liked the result. Although, now I would write the [...] ...

While getting ready for the Rapid Software Testing course I dedicated some time for the “homework” – studying of publicly available exploratory testing documents. And here’s my ideas on Functionality Testing. References Heuristic Test Strategy Model – Satisfice, Inc. – Designed by James Bach Michael Bolton, DevelopSense: Testers Know That Things Can Be Different ...

While getting ready for the Rapid Software Testing course I dedicated some time for the “homework” – studying of publicly available exploratory testing documents. And here’s my ideas on Claims Testing. References Heuristic Test Strategy Model – Satisfice, Inc. – Designed by James Bach Michael Bolton, DevelopSense: Testers Know That Things Can Be Different ...

How to find bugs quickly? How to pick just right test scenarios without losing your time trying thousands of possible combinations? These questions worth years of research. In my post I’m going to cover just one simple approach I practice quite successfully, and give a few examples you might be able to reproduce. Let’s start from [...] ...

You must unlearn what you have learned. Master Yoda to Luke Skywalker Although Unlearning is not a testing heuristic itself, I found it very helpful in many activities – from testing and test automation to problem solving and management. That is why I wrote about Unlearning on quicktestingtips.com. Yet I wanted to share even more [...] ...

Blink testing, as described by James Bach and explained by Michael Bolton, is an oracle heuristic based on “snap judgment” effect. Try catching “bug” (an odd character) in patterns below. I arranged them by difficulty I had. Feel free to put your experience in comments. In full-screen view all characters are 10pt capitals, as in standard [...] ...

Complex Data Boundaries: overflow or type mismatch? Complex data types are created by composition of basic data types. Compositions of data of the same type are formed as arrays. Compositions of data of different type are formed as records. There are internal (technical) rules defining how complex data types are managed. The rules are platform and [...] ...

Data Container Boundaries: where is the weakness? All the values used by computer programs are classified by type (integer number, floating point number, string, date, etc.), and all data types are internally encoded with numbers. Digital nature of computers makes them specific and discrete with numbers; once-and-forever defined memory cells serve that purpose. The capacity [...] ...

Software Testing is an empirical process. Empirical approach as an opposite to theoretical requires observation, investigation and experimenting. Results of those actions performed are collected, documented, analyzed, and categorized, before conclusion is made. A Scientific Method of Learning consists of the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses. [...] ...

A challenge Requirements are never complete or detailed enough… It might be a risk we have to consider or a challenge we need to take. This applies to anything in our job: from testing to development tasks. How do I handle this? An approach The approach I use I usually call a breakdown or decomposition. One might [...] ...