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Glossary of Software Testing Terms:
A
This glossary of software testing
terms and conditions is a compilation of knowledge, gathered
over time, from many different sources. It is provided “as-is”
in good faith, without any warranty as to the accuracy or
currency of any definition or other information contained
herein. If you have any questions or queries about the contents
of this glossary, please contact
Project Realms directly.
Acceptance Testing
Formal testing conducted to enable a user, customer, or other
authorized entity to determine whether to accept a system
or component. Normally per-formed to validate the software
meets a set of agreed acceptance criteria.
The set of tests designed to ensure that target users are
receiving the agreed upon functionality within the application
and that it meets a set of agreed acceptance criteria. The
purpose is to enable a user, customer, or other authorized
entity to determine whether to accept a system or component.
It verifies the project requirements have been delivered.
It is considered a key component of product launch and is
most effective when performed by end users, after System Testing,
in an environment that closely mirrors their typical work
environment. This type of testing is also known as User
Acceptance Testing (UAT).
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Accessibility Testing
This type of testing verifies that a product is accessible to
the people having disabilities (visually impaired, hard of hearing
etc.). It verifies the system under test is compliant with the
standards and guidelines.
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Actual Outcome
The actions that are produced when the object is tested under
specific conditions.
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Ad Hoc Testing
Ad-Hoc testing is also referred to as exploratory
testing. This testing is often taken to mean a creative,
informal software test that is not based on formal test plans
or test cases. The testing is carried out in an unstructured,
and improvised fashion. Performed without clear expected results,
ad hoc testing is most often used as a compliment to other types
of testing.
See also Monkey
Testing.
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Agent
When running a scenario, every workstation that is to be used
to generate load must have the agent software installed. This
software allows a remote (or local, but this is not advised)
controller to send Vusers to the workstation to be run. The
agent communicates directly with the controller, reporting performance
data of the Vuser, as well as ensuring that the Vuser runs as
specified in the scenario.
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Agile Testing
Testing practice for projects using agile methodologies, treating
development as the customer of testing and emphasizing a test-first
design philosophy. In agile development testing is integrated
throughout the lifecycle, testing the software throughout its
development.
See also Test
Driven Development.
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Alpha Testing
Simulated or actual operational testing by potential users/customers
or an independent test team at the developers' site. Alpha testing
is often employed for off-the-shelf software as a form of internal
acceptance testing, before the software goes to beta
testing.
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Application Binary Interface (ABI)
Describes the low-level interface between an application program
and the operating system, between an application and its libraries,
or between component parts of the application. An ABI differs
from an application programming interface (API) in that an API
defines the interface between source code and libraries, so
that the same source code will compile on any system supporting
that API, whereas an ABI allows compiled object code to function
without changes on any system using a compatible ABI.
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Application Development Lifecycle
The process flow during the various phases of the application
development life cycle.
The Design Phase depicts the design phase up to the point
of starting development. Once all of the requirements have been
gathered, analyzed, verified, and a design has been produced,
we are ready to pass on the programming requirements to the
application programmers.
The programmers take the design documents (programming requirements)
and then proceed with the iterative process of coding, testing,
revising, and testing again, this is the Development Phase.
After the programs have been tested by the programmers, they
will be part of a series of formal user and system tests. These
are used to verify usability and functionality from a user point
of view, as well as to verify the functions of the application
within a larger framework.
The final phase in the development life cycle is to go to production
and become a steady state. As a prerequisite to going to production,
the development team needs to provide documentation. This usually
consists of user training and operational procedures. The user
training familiarizes the users with the new application. The
operational procedures documentation enables Operations to take
over responsibility for running the application on an ongoing
basis.
In production, the changes and enhancements are handled by a
group (possibly the same programming group) that performs the
maintenance. At this point in the life cycle of the application,
changes are tightly controlled and must be rigorously tested
before being implemented into production.
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Application Programming Interface (API)
Provided by operating systems or libraries in response to support
requests for services to be made of it by computer programs.
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Arc Testing
See branch testing.
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Automated Software Quality (ASQ)
The use of software tools, such as automated testing tools,
to improve software quality.
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Automated Testing
Automated testing involves the use of commercially or internally
developed software or services to assist in the testing process.
They can be used to control the execution of test, the comparison
of actual outcomes, the setting up of test preconditions, and
other test control and test reporting functions, without manual
intervention. They provide results that are consistent. There
are benefits to using an automation tool. They include repeatability,
ease of maintenance, the ability to efficiently use resources
in off-peak hours and the capability to create reports based
on the executed tests.
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Automated Testing Tools
Software tools used by development teams to automate and streamline
their testing and quality assurance process.
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Availability Testing
See durability
testing.
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