Software Testing

[QTP TESTING HELP]

What is Software Testing?

Testing in general, is a process carried out by individuals or groups
across all domains, where
requirements exist.
Whereas, In more software subjective language, The comparison of EV
(expected value ) and
AV (Actual value) is known as testing.
To get a better understanding of the sentence above , lets see a small
example,
example 1.
I have a bulb , and my requirement is that when i switch it on, it
should glow. So My next step is to identify three things
Action to be performed : turn the Switch on,
Expected value : Bulb should glow,
Actual value : Present Status of the bulb after
performing the action ,( on or off ).
Now its the time for our test to generate a result based on a simple
logic,
IF EV = AV then the result is PASS , else Any deviation will make the
result as FAIL.
Now , ideally based on the difference or margin of difference between
the EV and AV , The Severity of the defectis decided and is subjected
for further rectifications.

Conclusive Definition of Testing :
Testing can be defined as the process in which the defects are
Identified, Isolated and then subjected for rectification and Re
ensuring that the end result is defect free (highest quality) in order
to achieve maximum customer satisfaction. ( An Interview
definition. ).

Who can do testing & things to understand ( Pre requirement to
understand Software testing effectively)
As we have understood so far, that testing is a very general
task and can be performed by anybody. But we have to understand the
importance of software testing first,
In the earlier days of software development, the support for
developing the programs was very little. Commercially very few rich
companies used advanced software solutions.
As three decades of research and development has passed , IT sector
has become sufficient enough to develop advanced software programming
for even space exploration.

Programming languages in the beginning were very complex and
were not feasible to achieve larger calculations, Hardware was costly
and was very limited in its capacity to perform continuous tasks, and
Networking bandwidths was a gen next topic.
But Now Object oriented Programming languages, Terra bytes of memory
and bandwidths of hundreds of M bps, are the foundations for future's
interactive web generation. Sites like Google, MSN and Yahoo make life
much easier to live with Chat , Conferencing and Data management etc.

So coming back to our goal (testing) , We need to realize that
Software is here to stay and become a part of mankind. Its the reality
of tomorrow and a necessity to be learnt for healthy survival in the
coming technological era. More and more companies are spending
billions of cash for achieving the limits and in all these process
one thing is attaining its place more prominently which is none other
than QUALITY.

I used so much of background to stress quality because Its the
final and direct goal of Quality assurance people or Test engineers.

Quality can be defined as Justification of all of the user's
requirements in a product with the presence of value & safety.
So as you can see that quality is a much wider requirement of the
masses when it comes to consumption of any service, So the Job of a
Tester is to act like a user and verify the product Fit ( defect free
= quality ).

Defect can be defined as deviation from a users requirement in a
particular product or service. So the same product have different
level of defects or No defects based on tastes and requirements of
different users.
As more and more business solutions are moving from man to machine ,
both development and testing are headed for an unprecedented boom.
Developers are under constant pressure of learning and updating
themselves with the latest programming languages to keep up the pace
with user's requirements.

As a result , Testing is also becoming an Integral part of
Software companies to produce quality results for beating the
competition. Previously developers used to test the applications
besides coding, but this had disadvantages , Like time consumption ,
emotional block to find defects in one's own creation and Post
delivery maintenance which is a common requirement now.
So Finally Testers have been appointed to simultaneously test the
applications along with the development , In order to identify defects
as soon as possible to reduce time loss and improve efficiency of the
developers.

Who can do it? Well, Anyone can do it. You need to be a graduate
to enter software testing and comfortable relationship with the PC.
All you have to get in your mind is that your job is to act like a
third person or end user and taste (test) the food before they eat,
and report it to the developer.
We are not correcting the mistake here, we are only identifying the
defects and reporting it and waiting for the next release to check
whether the defects are rectified and also to see whether new defects
have raised.

Some Important terminologies
Project : If something is developed based on a particular user/users
requirements, and is used exclusively by them, then it is known as
project. The finance is arranged by the client to complete the project
successfully.
Product : If something is developed based on company's specification
(after a general survey of the market requirements) and can be used by
multiple set of masses, then it is known as a product. The company has
to fund the entire development and usually expect to break even after
a successful market launch.
Defect v/s Defective : If the product is justifying partial
requirements of a particular customer but is usable functionally, then
we say that The product has a defect, But If the product is
functionally non usable , then even if some requirements are
satisfied, the product still will be tagged as Defective.
Quality Assurance : Quality assurance is a process of monitoring and
guiding each and every role in the organization in order to make them
perform their tasks according to the company's process guidelines.
Quality Control or Validation : To check whether the end result is the
right product, In other words whether the developed service meets all
the requirements or not.
Quality Assurance Verification : It is the method to check whether the
developed product or project has followed the right process or
guidelines through all the phases of development.
NCR : Whenever the role is not following the process in performing
the task assigned, then the penalty given to him is known as NCR ( Non
Confirmacy raised).
Inspection : Its a process of checking conducted by a group of
members on a role or a department suddenly without any prior
intimation.
Audit : Audit is a process of checking conducted on the roles or a
department with a prior notice, well in advance.
SCM : Software configuration management : This is a process carried
out by a team to attain the following things Version control and
Change control . In other terms SCM team is responsible for updating
all the common documents used across various domains to maintain
uniformity, and also name the project and update its version numbers
by gauzing the amount of change in the application or service after
development.
Common Repository : Its a server accessible by authorized users , to
store and retrieve the information safely and securely.
Base lining vs publishing : Its a process of finalizing the documents
vs making it available to all the relevant resources.
Release : Its a process of sending the application from the
development department to the testing department or from the company
to the market.
SRN ( Software Release Note ) : Its a note prepared by the
development department and sent to the testing department during the
release and it contains information about Path of the build,
Installation information, test data, list of known issues, version no,
date and credentials etc.,
SDN ( Software delivery Note ) : Its a note prepared by a team under
the guidance of a Project manager, and will be submitted to the
customer during delivery. It contains a carefully crated User manual
and list of known issues and workarounds.
Slippage : The extra time taken to accomplish a task is known as
slippage
Metrics v/s Matrix : Clear measurement of any task is defined as
metrics, whereas a tabular format with linking information which is
used for tracing any information back through references is called as
Matrix.
Template v/s document : Template is a pre-defined set of questionnaire
or a professional fill in the blanks set up , which is used to
prepare an finalize any document. The advantages of template is to
maintain uniformity and easier comprehension, throughout all the
documentation in a Project, group, department , company or even larger
masses.
Change Request v/s Impact Analysis : Change request is the proposal of
the customer to bring some changes into the project by filling a CRT
( change request template). Whereas Impact analysis is a study carried
out by the business analysts to gauze , how much impact will fall on
the already developed part of the application and how feasible it is
to go ahead with the change or demands of the customer.