Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
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 cus-
tomer 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. Also known as performance testing.
Stress testing
—Term often used interchangeably with load testing and per-
formance testing . Also used to describe such tests as system functional test-
ing while under unusually heavy loads, heavy repetition of certain actions or
inputs, input of large numerical values, large complex queries to a database
system, and so on.
Performance testing
—Term often used interchangeably with stress testing
and load testing . Ideally performance testing (or 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, sur-
veys, 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, hard-
ware failures, or other catastrophic problems.
Failover testing
—Typically used interchangeably with recovery testing .
Security testing
—Testing how well the system protects against unauthor-
ized internal or external access, willful damage, and so on; it may require
sophisticated testing techniques.
Compatibility testing
—Testing how well software performs within the
environment of a particular hardware, software, operating system, network,
and so on.
Exploratory testing
—Often taken to mean a creative, informal software
test that is not based on formal test plans or test cases. In exploratory testing,
testers may be learning the software as they test it. But more importantly
exploratory testing is the place where most of the defects in the software are
caught. The reason is that even if you create comprehensive test cases to cover
most of the software application for testing, it is not enough. Exploratory test-
ing testers use their experience and knowledge of the application to test the
application thoroughly, which is not possible using any structured approach
to testing such as using test cases to test the software application.
Ad hoc testing
—Same as exploratory testing with a difference that ad hoc
testing is used more in cases where no formal test planning is used.
Context-driven testing
—Testing driven by an understanding of the envi-
ronment, culture, and intended use of software. Context is very important
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