Static Testing - Software Testing: Testing Across the Entire Software Development Life Cycle - page 93

Chapter 6

Static Testing

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

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to examine the necessity of testing all documentation produced by a software
development project
to list the variety of software development documentation that should be tested
to describe the techniques for testing software development documentation

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6.1 INTRODUCTION

All good software development projects produce documentation as well as code.
This documentation serves a wide variety of purposes from shaping the software
itself to assisting the end user in successfully operating the software. Recalling
Chapter 3, this documentation fulfi lls the specifi cation item in the SPRAE check-
list. The process of testing this documentation is called static testing. The term
“static” in this context means “not while running” or “not while executing”, and
is used in contrast to testing software by running or executing it as described
in Chapters 7-9. Recalling the testing strategy chess board in Chapter 4, static
testing is considered a recommended strategy for all development phases except
Installation.

6.2 GOAL OF STATIC TESTING

Static testing is the least expensive form of testing and, with Chapter 1 defect sources
in mind, has the largest potential for reducing defects in software under develop-
ment. The primary goal of static testing is defect reduction in the software by reduc-
ing defects in the documentation from which the software is developed. A secondary
goal is correct operation of the software. This statement may seem like a statement
of the obvious, but many software systems and products have been abandoned after