Effective and Efficient Testing

Course #	EN04118
Date(s)	August 16-18, 2004
Times	8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Instructor(s)	Rex Black
Course Fee(s)	Registration on or before July 19, 2004 $1,050.00 Registration after July 19, 2004 $1,275.00 DIR Registration Fee $934.50
CEUs	1.6
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Test Engineers

General Description

Testing even a simple system is a potentially infinite task. With tight budgets and schedules, testers need a practical set of tools that will allow them to effectively and efficiently test software and find bugs.

This course will give attendees those tools. We'll look at practical techniques like risk analysis and test planning. Well talk about static testing of requirements and code. Well get hands-on experience with black-box techniques including equivalence classes, decision tables, state-transition diagrams, and orthogonal arrays. We'll also get hands-on experience with white-box techniques like statement and branch coverage, basis paths, and set-use pairs. Well cover documenting test cases, writing bug reports, and tracking test status. Well also look at the skills, traits, and attitudes that make testers successful.

Learning Objectives

Through presentation, discussion, and hands-on exercises, attendees will learn to:

• Understand the goals, strategies, and tactics of effective and efficient testing.
• Analyze, prioritize, and document risks to the quality of the system.
• Design, develop, and document static, white-box, and black-box tests, using techniques including:
• Requirements and code reviews.
• Equivalence classes and boundary value analysis.
• Decision tables.
• State-transition diagrams.
• Orthogonal arrays.
• Branch and condition coverage.
• Basis paths.
• Execute test cases and track their results.
• Research observed anomalies and write actionable, high quality bug reports.
• Be effective and efficient professionals within the test operation and the company.

Course Outline

Day One

Introductions, objectives and overview

What is effective and efficient software testing?

• Effectiveness
• Efficiency
• Viewpoints on testing
• Quality

Exercise: The triangle tests

Understanding risks to system quality

• An overview of various quality risks
• The challenge of focusing on the right risks

Aligning testing with quality risks

• Testing real-world use
• Testing real-world configurations
• Sources of information on risk
• Using risk to guide the areas and extent of testing

Exercise: Quality risk analysis

Aligning testing with the project

• Why organizations test
• Testing and software development lifecycles
• Testing and other kinds of projects

Understanding test strategies, tactics, designs

• A survey of test strategies
• Regression test strategies
• A survey of test tactics and techniques
• Good test system design

Effective and efficient static testing

• Static testing requirements
• Static testing documentation
• Static testing code

Exercise: Reviewing requirements

Day Two

Effective and efficient white-box (structural) testing

• Code coverage
• McCabe complexity, basis paths, basis tests
• Data flow coverage (set use pairs)
• Application program interface (API) testing
• Mutation and fault injection
• Other white-box tests
• Drivers and stubs
• Integration techniques
• Integration complexity, basis paths, basis tests
• Other considerations

Exercise: White-box triangle tests

Exercise: ATM integration tests

Basic effective and efficient black-box testing

• Equivalence partitioning
• Boundary value analysis
• Use cases
• Nouns and verbs
• Customer data and workflows
• Decision tables

Exercise: Equivalence classes and boundary value analysis

Exercise: ATM decision table tests

Exercise: Decision table, boundary value analysis, and scenarios

Exercise: Building a decision table and tests

Advanced behavioral testing

• State transition diagrams
• Risk-driven tests
• Exploratory tests
• Domain testing
• Orthogonal arrays and all-pairs tables
• Syntax testing

Exercise: ATM state-transition diagram tests

Exercise: Online banking compatibility test

Exercise: Print server tests using state models

Effective and efficient automated testing

• Overview
• Theory and practice
• Manual versus automated
• GUI, API and CLI test automation
• Automated static testing

Case study: A mixed commercial-custom automated test project

Exercise: Picking an oracle

Day Three

Documenting, calibrating, and assessing tests

• What to document
• Test case templates
• Detail and precision of documentation
• Traceability
• Predicting test effectiveness
• Continuous improvement

Exercise: Traceability matrix for ATM tests

Exercise: Print server tests in a template

Effective and efficient test plans

• Developing test plans
• A test plan template
• Entry and exit criteria

Glossary, bibliography, and resources