What’s the fuss about? -Rajesh Mathur Testing and Checking What’s the fuss about? -Rajesh Mathur

About me.. Tester Developer http://www.meetup.com/TestEngineeringAlliance/ Hong Kong & China Software Testing Group Association for Software Testing (AST) Fellow, Hong Kong Computer Society

Ketchup Or Catsup? The Truth is… …there is no fuss!

About this talk.. This talk is based on the ideas refined by Michael Bolton and James Bach. www.Developsense.com www.Satisfice.com

The debate started as testing vs. checking Words = ambiguous and slippery. Ad-hoc Vs. I use words from Rapid Software Testing namespace

But why even bother? Because.. We are passionate testers We care about improving the craft of testing We want to bring positive change We want to clean up the language .

Testing is..

Testing is.. Testing is the process of evaluating a product by learning about it through exploration and experimentation, which includes to some degree: questioning, study, modeling, observation, inference, etc. Exercises: 2+2 = 4

Testing is.. - Michael Bolton not about verification—certainly not exclusively; about understanding the product we have, to see how it differs from the product we hoped we’d get. not only about verifying special cases; it’s also about interacting with the product and considering how we’d identify a special case in the first place. about more than using machinery to check a result produced by other machinery. about investigating the product, looking for threats to value. not only about confirming a predicted, expected result. It’s about exposing ourselves to the unpredicted and the unexpected. isn’t only about writing and running theorem provers; it’s also about discovering how your first round of theorem provers missed things that were important to your or your customers. not only about functional correctness; it’s also about asking and answering the question “is there a problem here?” - Michael Bolton

Is there a problem here?

Or here..

Here..

Or here..

Or even here..

Checking is.. Checking is the process of making evaluations by applying algorithmic decision rules to specific observations of a product. Three kinds of checking: Human checking is an attempted checking process wherein humans collect the observations and apply the rules without the mediation of tools. Machine checking is a checking process wherein tools collect the observations and apply the rules without the mediation of humans. Human/machine checking is an attempted checking process wherein both humans and tools interact to collect the observations and apply the rules.

Testing encompasses checking In experimentation, you might be applying algorithmic decision rules, but that’s not at the centre of the activity. There’s lots of other stuff going on too: modelling, conjecture, finding and applying resources on the fly, questioning, studying, hypothesizing, questioning, learning, making inferences, identifying risks… none of these things can be done algorithmically. In checking, the application of algorithmic rules IS the activity, and that at least in theory can be done by a machine. Ref: Satisfice.com

Tacit & Explicit observations

checking by its nature depends on us having an observation to make and a rule or algorithm to apply. Even though machinery and code can provide awesome assistance to humans, the simple fact is that machinery is incapable of making observations independently. Machinery can’t prove that something is good; it can only help a human to identify consistency or inconsistency with a proposition. A check cannot make an observation other than one that has been programmed. But humans can. For that stuff, we need another concept that includes the concept of checking: testing.

Keep May 2016 clear in your diary!

Rapid Software Testing (RST) With Michael Bolton Limited opportunity - max of 24 participants 3-day RST: May 16-18 1-day RST for Managers: May 19 Full details: http://testengineeringalliance.com/rapid-software-testing-rst/

Australian Testing Days 2016

Australian Testing Days 2016 2-day event: May 20-21 World-class programme of speakers Full details: http://testengineeringalliance.com/australian-testing-days-2016/

Australian Testing Days 2016

Resources Perfect Software and Other Illusions about Testing, Jerry Weinberg http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/856 http://www.developsense.com/blog/2009/08/testing-vs-checking/ http://www.developsense.com/blog/2013/03/testing-and-checking- redefined/ http://www.developsense.com/blog/2009/11/merely-checking-or- merely-testing/