1. Improving Your Testing
COSC 4345

2. Planning to test Testing is as important as design and coding
High quality software means
Create a software development process that is repeatable
Testing to make sure the software hasn’t taken a step backward is called “regression” testing
Most organizations automate regression testing
Once you automate it, regression testing takes little effort on our part

3. Advantages of automated testing
Less human effort
Lower chance of being wrong than manual testing
Tests can be run more frequently

4. Keeping test records
Enables you to measure the project so that you can tell if changes have improved or degraded your system
Test records:
Defect description
Steps to take to repeat the problem
Suggested workaround (if applicable)
Severity of roblem
Origin of defect (requirements, design, coding, testing)
Hours to find defect
Hours to fix defect

5. Testing checklist Does each line of code have a test case?
Does each feature have one or more test cases?
Have all defined data-flow paths been tested with at least one test case?
Have all simple boundaries been tested: maximum, minimum, and off-by-one boundaries?
Has compatibility with old data been tested (i.e., old hardware, od versions of OS, old interfaces, other software)?

6. Working with professional test teams
Test team – one or more people whose only job is to test
Testers must have domain knowledge – Understand the functional requirements
Must have software system and technical knowledge
Must have a good rapport with the software team; communication is a key factor
Must be able to take view the system from a user perspective
Challenges: scheduling work adds bureaucracy, training testers with respect to new features, temptation to be defensive when testers find problems