Manual Software Testing Interview Questions with
Answers
As a software tester the person
should have certain qualities, which are imperative. The person should be
observant, creative, innovative, speculative, patient, etc. It is important to
note, that when you opt for manual testing, it is an accepted fact that the job
is going to be tedious and laborious. Whether you are a fresher or experienced,
there are certain questions, to which answers you should know.
1) What is difference
between bug, error and defect?
Bug and defect essentially mean
the same. It is the flaw in a component or system, which can cause the
component or system to fail to perform its required function. If a bug or
defect is encountered during the execution phase of the software development,
it can cause the component or the system to fail. On the other hand, an error
is a human error, which gives rise to incorrect result. You may want to know
about, how to log a bug (defect), contents of a bug, bug life cycle, and bug
and statuses used during a bug life cycle, which help you in understanding the
terms bug and defect better.
2) Explain white box
testing.
One of the testing types used
in software testing is white box testing. Read in detail on white box testing.
3) Tell me about V model in
manual testing.
V model is a framework, which
describes the software development life cycle activities right from
requirements specification up to software maintenance phase. Testing is
integrated in each of the phases of the model. The phases of the model start
with user requirements and are followed by system requirements, global design,
detailed design, implementation and ends with system testing of the entire
system. Each phase of model has the respective testing activity integrated in it
and is carried out parallel to the development activities. The four test levels
used by this model include, component testing, integration testing, system
testing and acceptance testing.
4) What are stubs and
drivers in manual testing?
Both stubs and drivers are a
part of incremental testing. There are two approaches, which are used in
incremental testing, namely bottom up and top down approach. Drivers are used
in bottom up testing. They are modules, which test the components to be tested.
The look of the drivers is similar to the future real modules. A skeletal or
special purpose implementation of a component, which is used to develop or test
a component, that calls or is otherwise dependent on it. It is the replacement
for the called component.
5) Explain black box
testing.
Find the answer to the question
in the article on black box testing.
6) Explain compatibility testing.
The answer to this question is
in the article on compatibility testing.
7) What are the check lists,
which a software tester should follow?
Read the link on check lists
for software tester to find the answer to the question.
8) What are the different
types of software testing?
There are a number of types of
software testing which you will learn in the preceding link.
9) What are the phases of
STLC?
Like there are different phases
of the software development life cycle, there are different phases of software
testing life cycle as well. Read through software testing life cycle for more
explanation.
10) What is a Review?
A review is an evaluation of a
said product or project status to ascertain any discrepancies from the actual
planned results and to recommend improvements to the said product. The common
examples of reviews are informal review or peer review, technical review,
inspection, walkthrough, management review. This is one of the manual testing
interview questions.
11) Explain beta testing.
For answer to this question,
refer to the article on beta testing.
12) Explain equivalence
class partition.
It is either specification
based or a black box technique. Gather information on equivalence partitioning
from the article on equivalence partitioning.
13) What is a test case?
Find the answer to this
question in the article titled test cases.
14) What is a test suite?
A test suite is a set of
several test cases designed for a component of a software or system under test,
where the post condition of one test case is normally used as the precondition
for the next test.
15) What is acceptance
testing?
Refer to the article on
acceptance testing for the answer.
16) What is boundary value analysis?
A boundary value is an input or
an output value, which resides on the edge of an equivalence partition. It can
also be the smallest incremental distance on either side of an edge, like the
minimum or a maximum value of an edge. Boundary value analysis is a black box
testing technique, where the tests are based on the boundary values.
17) What is compatibility
testing?
Compatibility testing is a part
of non-functional tests carried out on the software component or the entire
software to evaluate the compatibility of the application with the computing
environment. It can be with the servers, other software, computer operating
system, different web browsers or the hardware as well.
18) What is exact difference
between debugging & testing?
When a test is run and a defect
has been identified. It is the duty of the developer to first locate the defect
in the code and then fix it. This process is known as debugging. In other
words, debugging is the process of finding, analyzing and removing the causes
of failures in the software. On the other hand, testing consists of both static
and dynamic testing life cycle activities. It helps to determine that the
software does satisfy specified requirements and it is fit for purpose.
19) Explain in short, sanity
testing, ad-hoc testing and smoke testing.
Sanity testing is a basic test,
which is conducted if all the components of the software can be compiled with
each other without any problem. It is to make sure that there are no
conflicting or multiple functions or global variable definitions have been made
by different developers. It can also be carried out by the developers
themselves. Smoke testing on the other hand is a testing methodology used to
cover all the major functionality of the application without getting into the
finer nuances of the application. It is said to be the main functionality
oriented test. Ad hoc testing is different than smoke and sanity testing. This
term is used for software testing, which is performed without any sort of
planning and/or documentation. These tests are intended to run only once.
However in case of a defect found it can be carried out again. It is also said
to be a part of exploratory testing.
20) Explain performance
testing.
It is one of the non-functional
types of software testing. Performance of software is the degree to which a
system or a component of system accomplishes the designated functions given
constraints regarding processing time and throughput rate. Therefore,
performance testing is the process to test to determine the performance of
software.
21) What is exploratory
testing?
Read the page on exploratory
testing to find the answer.
22) What is integration
testing?
One
of the software testing types, where tests are conducted to test interfaces
between components, interactions of the different parts of the system with
operating system, file system, hardware and between different software. It may
be carried out by the integrator of the system, but should ideally be carried
out by a specific integration tester or a test team.
23) What is meant by
functional defects and usability defects in general? Give appropriate example.
We will take the example of
‘Login window’ to understand functionality and usability defects. A
functionality defect is when a user gives a valid user name but invalid
password and the user clicks on login button. If the application accepts the
user name and password, and displays the main window, where an error should
have been displayed. On the other hand a usability defect is when the user
gives a valid user name, but invalid password and clicks on login button. The
application throws up an error message saying “Please enter valid user name”
when the error message should have been “Please enter valid Password.”
24) What is pilot testing?
It is a test of a component of
a software system or the entire system under the real time operating
conditions. The real time environment helps to find the defects in the system
and prevent costly bugs been detected later on. Normally a group of users use
the system before its complete deployment and give their feedback about the
system.
25) Explain statement
coverage.
It is a structure based or
white box technique. Test coverage measures in a specific way the amount of
testing performed by a set of tests. One of the test coverage type is statement
coverage. It is the percentage of executable statements which have been exercise
by a particular test suite. The formula which is used for statement coverage
is: Statement Coverage = Number of statements exercised Total number of
statements * 100%
26) Explain stress testing.
Find the answer to this
question in this article on stress testing.
27) What is regression
testing?
Regression testing is the
testing of a particular component of the software or the entire software after
modifications have been made to it. The aim of regression testing is to ensure
new defects have not been introduced in the component or software, especially
in the areas where no changes have been made. In short, regression testing is
the testing to ensure nothing has changed, which should not have changed due to
changes made.
28) What is security testing?
Read on security testing for an
appropriate answer.
29) What is system testing?
System testing is testing
carried out of an integrated system to verify, that the system meets the
specified requirements. It is concerned with the behavior of the whole system,
according to the scope defined. More often than not system testing is the final
test carried out by the development team, in order to verify that the system
developed does meet the specifications and also identify defects which may be
present.
30) What is the difference
between retest and regression testing?
Retesting, also known as
confirmation testing is testing which runs the test cases that failed the last
time, when they were run in order to verify the success of corrective actions
taken on the defect found. On the other hand, regression testing is testing of
a previously tested program after the modifications to make sure that no new
defects have been introduced. In other words, it helps to uncover defects in
the unchanged areas of the software.
31) Explain priority,
severity in software testing.
Priority is the level of
business importance, which is assigned to a defect found. On the other hand,
severity is the degree of impact, the defect can have on the development or
operation of the component or the system.
32) Explain the bug life
cycle in detail.
This is one of the most
commonly asked interview questions, hence this question is always a part of
software testing interview questions and answers for experienced as well as
fresher’s. The bug life cycle is the stages the bug or defect goes through
before it is fixed, deferred or rejected. Read in detail on bug life cycle.
33) What is the difference
between volume testing and load testing?
Volume testing checks if the
system can actually come up with the large amount of data. For example, a
number of fields in a particular record or numerous records in a file, etc. On
the other hand, load testing is measuring the behavior of a component or a
system with increased load. The increase in load can be in terms of number of
parallel users and/or parallel transactions. This helps to determine the amount
of load, which can be handled by the component or the software system.
34) What is usability
testing?
Refer to the article titled
usability testing for an answer to this question.
35) Explain the test case
life cycle.
On an average a test case goes
through the following phases. The first phase of the test case life cycle is
identifying the test scenarios either from the specifications or from the use
cases designed to develop the system. Once the scenarios have been identified,
the test cases apt for the scenarios have to be developed. Then the test cases
are reviewed and the approval for those test cases has to be taken from the
concerned authority. After the test cases have been approved, they are
executed. When the execution of the test cases start,
the
results of the tests have to be recorded. The test cases which pass are marked
accordingly. If the test cases fail, defects have to be raised. When the
defects are fixed the failed test case has to be executed again.
36) What is verification and
validation?
Read on the two techniques used
in software testing namely verification and validation in the article on
verification and validation.
37) Which are the different
methodologies used in software testing?
Refer to software testing
methodologies for detailed information on the different methodologies used in
software testing.
38) Explain the waterfall
model in testing.
Waterfall model is a part of
software development life cycle, as well as software testing. It is one of the
first models to be used for software testing.
39) Explain is Validation?
The process of evaluating
software at the end of the software development process to ensure compliance
with software requirements. The techniques for validation are testing,
inspection and reviewing.
40) What is Verification?
The process of determining
whether or not the products of a given phase of the software development cycle
meet the implementation steps and can be traced to the incoming objectives
established during the previous phase. The techniques for verification are
testing, inspection and reviewing.
41) What is Acceptance
Testing? Testing conducted to enable
a user/customer to determine whether to accept a software product. Normally
performed to validate the software meets a set of agreed acceptance criteria.
42) What is Accessibility Testing? Verifying
a product is accessible to the people having disabilities (deaf, blind,
mentally disabled etc.).
43) What is Ad Hoc Testing? A testing phase where the tester tries to 'break' the
system by randomly trying the system's functionality. Can include negative
testing as well. See also Monkey Testing.
44) What is Agile Testing? Testing practice for projects using agile
methodologies, treating development as the
customer
of testing and emphasizing a test-first design paradigm. See also Test Driven
Development.
45) What is Application Binary Interface (ABI)? A specification defining requirements for portability
of applications in binary forms across different system platforms and
environments.
46) What is Application Programming Interface (API)? A formalized set of software calls and routines that
can be referenced by an application program in order to access supporting
system or network services.
47) What is Automated Software Quality (ASQ)? The use of software tools, such as automated testing
tools, to improve software quality.
48) What is Automated Testing? Testing
employing software tools which execute tests without manual intervention. Can
be applied in GUI, performance, API, etc. testing. The use of software to
control the execution of tests, the comparison of actual outcomes to predicted
outcomes, the setting up of test preconditions, and other test control and test
reporting functions.
49) What is Backus-Naur Form? A
metalanguage used to formally describe the syntax of a language.
50 )What is Basic Block? A sequence of
one or more consecutive, executable statements containing no branches.
51) What is Basis Path Testing? A
white box test case design technique that uses the algorithmic flow of the
program to design tests.
52). What is Basis Set? The set of tests derived using basis path testing.
53) What is Baseline? The
point at which some deliverable produced during the software engineering
process is put under formal change control.
54) What you will do during the first day of job? What would you like to do five years from now?
55). What is Beta Testing? Testing
of a release of a software product conducted by customers.
56). What is Binary Portability Testing? Testing an executable application for portability
across system platforms and
environments,
usually for conformation to an ABI specification.
17). What is Black Box
Testing? Testing based on an analysis of the specification of a piece of
software without reference to its internal workings. The goal is to test how
well the component conforms to the published requirements for the component.
18). What is Bottom Up Testing? An
approach to integration testing where the lowest level components are tested
first, then used to facilitate the testing of higher level components. The
process is repeated until the component at the top of the hierarchy is tested.
19). What is Boundary Testing? Test
which focus on the boundary or limit conditions of the software being tested.
(Some of these tests are stress tests).
20). What is Bug? What is
Defect? A fault in a program which
causes the program to perform in an unintended or unanticipated manner. If
software misses some feature or function from what is there in requirement it
is called as defect.
21. What is Boundary Value
Analysis? BVA is similar to
Equivalence Partitioning but focuses on "corner cases" or values that
are usually out of range as defined by the specification. his means that if a
function expects all values in range of negative 100 to positive 1000, test
inputs would include negative 101 and positive 1001.
22. What is Branch Testing? Testing in
which all branches in the program source code are tested at least once.
23. What is Breadth Testing? A test suite that
exercises the full functionality of a product but does not test features in detail.
24. What is CAST? Computer Aided Software Testing.
25. What is Capture/Replay
Tool? A test tool that records test
input as it is sent to the software under test. The input cases stored can then
be used to reproduce the test at a later time. Most commonly applied to GUI
test tools.
26. What is CMM? The Capability Maturity Model for Software (CMM or
SW-CMM) is a model for judging the maturity of the software processes of an
organization and for identifying the key practices that are required to increase
the maturity of these processes.
27. What is Cause Effect Graph? A
graphical representation of inputs and the associated outputs effects which can
be used to design test cases.
28. What is Code Complete? Phase
of development where functionality is implemented in entirety; bug fixes are
all that are left. All functions found in the Functional Specifications have
been implemented.
29. What is Code Coverage?
An analysis method that determines which parts of the software have been
executed (covered) by the test case suite and which parts have not been
executed and therefore may require additional attention.
30. What is Code Inspection? A
formal testing technique where the programmer reviews source code with a group
who ask questions analyzing the program logic, analyzing the code with respect
to a checklist of historically common programming errors, and analyzing its
compliance with coding standards.
31. What is Code
Walkthrough? A formal testing technique where source code is traced by a
group with a small set of test cases, while the state of program variables is
manually monitored, to analyze the programmer's logic and assumptions.
32. What is Coding? The
generation of source code.
33. What is Compatibility
Testing? Testing whether software is
compatible with other elements of a system with which it should operate, e.g.
browsers, Operating Systems, or hardware.
34. What is Component? A minimal software item for which a separate
specification is available.
35. What is Component
Testing? Testing of individual
software components (Unit Testing).
36. What is Concurrency
Testing? Multi-user testing geared
towards determining the effects of accessing the same application code, module
or database records. Identifies and measures the level of locking, deadlocking
and use of single-threaded code and locking semaphores.
37. What is Conformance
Testing? The process of testing that
an implementation conforms to the specification on which it is based. Usually
applied to testing conformance to a formal standard.
38. What is Context Driven Testing? The conte5xt-driven school of software testing is flavor of Agile
Testing that advocates continuous and creative evaluation of testing
opportunities in light of the potential information revealed and the value of
that information to the organization right now.
39. What is Conversion Testing?
Testing
of programs or procedures used to convert data from existing systems for use in
replacement systems.
40. What is Cyclomatic Complexity? A measure of the logical complexity of an algorithm, used in white-box
testing.
41. What is Data Dictionary? A
database that contains definitions of all data items defined during analysis.
42. What is Data Flow Diagram? A
modeling notation that represents a functional decomposition of a system.
43. What is Data Driven Testing? Testing in which the action of a test case is parameterized by
externally defined data values, maintained as a file or spreadsheet. A common
technique in Automated Testing.
44. What is Debugging? The
process of finding and removing the causes of software failures.
45. What is Defect? Nonconformance to requirements or functional / program
specification
46. What is Dependency
Testing? Examines an application's
requirements for pre-existing software, initial states and configuration in
order to maintain proper functionality.
47. What is Depth Testing? A test that exercises a feature of a product in full
detail.
48. What is Dynamic Testing?
Testing software through executing
it. See also Static Testing.
49. What is Emulator? A device, computer program, or system that accepts the
same inputs and produces the same outputs as a given system.
50. What is Endurance
Testing? Checks for memory leaks or
other problems that may occur with prolonged execution.
51. What is End-to-End testing?
Testing a complete application
environment in a situation that mimics real-world use, such as interacting with
a database, using network communications, or interacting with other hardware,
applications, or systems if appropriate.
52. What is Equivalence
Class? A portion of a component's
input or output domains for which the component's behaviour is assumed to be
the same from the component's specification.
53. What is Equivalence
Partitioning? A test case design
technique for a component in which test cases are designed to execute
representatives from equivalence classes.
54. What is Exhaustive
Testing? Testing which covers all
combinations of input values and preconditions for an element of the software
under test.
55. What is Functional Decomposition? A
technique used during planning, analysis and design; creates a functional
hierarchy for the software.
54. What is Functional Specification? A
document that describes in detail the characteristics of the product with
regard to its intended features.
55. What is Functional Testing? Testing
the features and operational behavior of a product to ensure they correspond to
its specifications. Testing that ignores the internal mechanism of a system or
component and focuses solely on the outputs generated in response to selected
inputs and execution conditions. or Black Box Testing.
56. What is Glass Box Testing? A
synonym for White Box Testing.
57. What is Gorilla Testing? Testing
one particular module, functionality heavily.
58. What is Gray Box
Testing? A combination of Black Box
and White Box testing methodologies? testing a piece of software against its
specification but using some knowledge of its internal workings.
59. What is High Order Tests? Black-box
tests conducted once the software has been integrated.
60. What is Independent Test
Group (ITG)? A group of people whose
primary responsibility is software testing,
61. What is Inspection? A group review quality improvement process for written
material. It consists of two aspects; product (document itself) improvement and
process improvement (of both document production and inspection).
62. What is Integration Testing? Testing
of combined parts of an application to determine if they function together
correctly. Usually performed after unit and functional testing. This type of
testing is especially relevant to client/server and distributed systems.
63. What is Installation
Testing? Confirms that the
application under test recovers from expected or unexpected events without loss
of data or functionality. Events can include shortage of disk space, unexpected
loss of communication, or power out conditions.
64. What is Load Testing? See Performance Testing.
65. What is Localization
Testing? This term refers to making
software specifically designed for a specific locality.
66. What is Loop Testing? A white box testing technique that exercises program
loops.
67. What is Metric? A standard of measurement. Software metrics are the
statistics describing the structure or content of a program. A metric should be
a real objective measurement of something such as number of bugs per lines of
code.
68. What is Monkey Testing? Testing a
system or an Application on the fly, i.e just few tests here and there to
ensure the system or an application does not crash out.
69. What is Negative
Testing? Testing aimed at showing
software does not work. Also known as "test to fail". See also
Positive Testing.
70. What is Path Testing? Testing in
which all paths in the program source code are tested at least once.
71. What is Performance
Testing? Testing conducted to
evaluate the compliance of a system or component with specified performance
requirements. Often this is performed using an automated test tool to simulate
large number of users. Also know as "Load Testing".
72. What is Positive
Testing? Testing aimed at showing
software works. Also known as "test to pass". See also Negative
Testing.
73. What is Quality
Assurance? All those planned or
systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or
service is of the type and quality needed and expected by the customer.
74. What is Quality Audit? A systematic and independent examination to determine
whether quality activities and related results comply with planned arrangements
and whether these arrangements are implemented effectively and are suitable to
achieve objectives.
75. What is Quality Circle? A group of individuals with related interests that
meet at regular intervals to consider problems or other matters related to the
quality of outputs of a process and to the correction of problems or to the
improvement of quality.
76. What is Quality Control?
The operational techniques and the
activities used to fulfill and verify requirements of quality.
77. What is Quality
Management? That aspect of the
overall management function that determines and implements the quality policy.
78. What is Quality Policy? The overall intentions and direction of an
organization as regards quality as formally expressed by top management.
79. What is Quality System? The organizational structure, responsibilities,
procedures, processes, and resources for implementing quality management.
80. What is Race Condition? A cause of
concurrency problems. Multiple accesses to a shared resource, at least one of
which is a write, with no mechanism used by either to moderate simultaneous
access.
81. What is Ramp Testing? Continuously raising an input signal until the system
breaks down.
82. What is Recovery
Testing? Confirms that the program
recovers from expected or unexpected events without loss of data or
functionality. Events can include shortage of disk space, unexpected loss of
communication, or power out conditions.
83. What is Regression
Testing? Retesting a previously
tested program following modification to ensure that faults have not been
introduced or uncovered as a result of the changes made.
84. What is Release
Candidate? A pre-release version,
which contains the desired functionality of the final version, but which needs
to be tested for bugs (which ideally should be removed before the final version
is released).
85. What is Sanity Testing? Brief test of major functional elements of a piece of
software to determine if its basically operational. See also Smoke Testing.
86. What is Scalability
Testing? Performance testing focused
on ensuring the application under test gracefully handles increases in work
load.
87. What is Security
Testing? Testing which confirms that
the program can restrict access to authorized personnel and that the authorized
personnel can access the functions available to their security level.
88. What is Smoke Testing? A quick-and-dirty test that the major functions of a
piece of software work. Originated in the hardware testing practice of turning
on a new piece of hardware for the first time and considering it a success if
it does not catch on fire.
89. What is Soak Testing? Running a system at high load for a prolonged period
of time. For example, running several times more transactions in an entire day
(or night) than would be expected in a busy day, to identify and performance
problems that appear after a large number of transactions have been executed.
90. What is Software
Requirements Specification? A
deliverable that describes all data, functional and behavioral requirements,
all constraints, and all validation requirements for software/
91. What is Software
Testing? A set of activities
conducted with the intent of finding errors in software.
92. What is Static Analysis?
Analysis of a program carried out
without executing the program.
93. What is Static Analyzer?
A tool that carries out static
analysis.
94. What is Static Testing? Analysis of a program carried out without executing
the program.
95. What is Storage Testing?
Testing that verifies the program
under test stores data files in the correct directories and that it reserves
sufficient space to prevent unexpected termination resulting from lack of
space. This is external storage as opposed to internal storage.
96. What is Stress Testing? Testing conducted to evaluate a system or component at
or beyond the limits of its specified requirements to determine the load under
which it fails and how. Often this is performance testing using a very high
level of simulated load.
97. What is Structural
Testing? Testing based on an analysis
of internal workings and structure of a piece of software. See also White Box
Testing.
98. What is System Testing? Testing that attempts to discover defects that are
properties of the entire system rather than of its individual components.
99. What is Testability? The degree to which a system or component facilitates
the establishment of test criteria and the performance of tests to determine
whether those criteria have been met.
100. What is Testing? The process of exercising software to verify that it
satisfies specified requirements and to detect errors. The process of analyzing
a software item to detect the differences between existing and required
conditions (that is, bugs), and to evaluate the features of the software item
(Ref. IEEE Std 829). The process of operating a system or component under
specified conditions, observing or recording the results, and making an
evaluation of some aspect of the system or component. What is Test Automation?
It is the same as Automated Testing.
101. What is Test Bed? An execution environment configured for testing. May
consist of specific hardware, OS, network topology, configuration of the
product under test, other application or system software, etc. The Test Plan
for a project should enumerated the test beds(s) to be used.
102. What is Test Case? Test Case is a commonly used term for a specific test.
This is usually the smallest unit of testing. A Test Case will consist of
information such as requirements testing, test steps, verification steps,
prerequisites, outputs, test environment, etc. A set of inputs, execution
preconditions, and expected outcomes developed for a particular objective, such
as to exercise a particular program path or to verify compliance with a
specific requirement. Test Driven Development? Testing methodology associated
with Agile Programming in which every chunk of code is covered by unit tests,
which must all pass all the time, in an effort to eliminate unit-level and
regression bugs during development. Practitioners of TDD write a lot of tests,
i.e. an equal number of lines of test code to the size of the production code.
103. What is Test Driver? A program or test tool used to execute a tests. Also
known as a Test Harness.
104. What is Test
Environment? The hardware and
software environment in which tests will be run, and any other software with
which the software under test interacts when under test including stubs and
test drivers.
105. What is Test First Design? Test-first
design is one of the mandatory practices of Extreme Programming (XP).It
requires that programmers do not write any production code until they have
first written a unit test.
106. What is Test Harness? A
program or test tool used to execute a tests. Also known as a Test Driver.
107. What is Test Plan? A document describing the scope, approach, resources,
and schedule of intended testing activities. It identifies test items, the
features to be tested, the testing tasks, who will do each task, and any risks
requiring contingency planning.
108. What is Test Procedure?
A document providing detailed
instructions for the execution of one or more test cases.
109. What is Test Script? Commonly used to refer to the instructions for a
particular test that will be carried out by an automated test tool.
110. What is Test
Specification? A document specifying
the test approach for a software feature or combination or features and the
inputs, predicted results and execution conditions for the associated tests.
111. What is Test Suite? A collection of tests used to validate the behavior of
a product. The scope of a Test Suite varies from organization to organization.
There may be several Test Suites for a particular product for example. In most
cases however a Test Suite is a high level concept, grouping together hundreds
or thousands of tests related by what they are intended to test.
112. What is Test Tools? Computer programs used in the testing of a system, a
component of the system, or its documentation.
113. What is Thread Testing? A
variation of top-down testing where the progressive integration of components
follows the implementation of subsets of the requirements, as opposed to the
integration of components by successively lower levels.
114. What is Top Down Testing? An
approach to integration testing where the component at the top of the component
hierarchy is tested first, with lower level components being simulated by
stubs. Tested components are then used to test lower level components. The
process is repeated until the lowest level components have been tested.
115. What is Total Quality Management? A company commitment to develop a process that
achieves high quality product and customer satisfaction.
116. What is Traceability Matrix? A document showing the relationship between Test Requirements and Test
Cases.
117. What is Usability Testing? Testing
the ease with which users can learn and use a product.
118. What is Use Case? The
specification of tests that are conducted from the end-user perspective. Use
cases tend to focus on operating software as an end-user would conduct their
day-to-day activities.
119. What is Unit Testing? Testing of individual software components.
120. What is Validation? The process of evaluating software at the end of the
software development process to ensure compliance with software requirements.
The techniques for validation is testing, inspection and reviewing.
121. What is Verification? The process of determining whether of not the products
of a given phase of the software development cycle meet the implementation
steps and can be traced to the incoming objectives established during the
previous phase. The techniques for verification are testing, inspection and
reviewing.
122. What is White Box
Testing? Testing based on an analysis
of internal workings and structure of a piece of software. Includes techniques
such as Branch Testing and Path Testing. Also known as Structural Testing and
Glass Box Testing. Contrast with Black Box Testing. White box testing is used
to test the internal logic of the code for ex checking whether the path has
been executed once, checking whether the branches has been executed atleast
once .....Used to check the structure of the code.
123. What is Workflow Testing? Scripted
end-to-end testing which duplicates specific workflows which are expected to be
utilized by the end-user.
124. What's the difference between load and stress testing ? One of the most common, but unfortunate misuse of
terminology is treating “load testing” and “stress testing” as synonymous. The
consequence of this ignorant semantic abuse is usually that the system is
neither properly “load tested” nor subjected to a meaningful stress test.
Stress testing is subjecting a system to an unreasonable load while denying it
the resources (e.g., RAM, disc, mips, interrupts, etc.) needed to process that
load. The idea is to stress a system to the breaking point in order to find
bugs that will make that break potentially harmful. The system is not expected
to process the overload without adequate resources, but to behave (e.g., fail)
in a decent manner (e.g., not corrupting or losing data). Bugs and failure
modes discovered under stress testing may or may not be repaired depending on
the application, the failure mode, consequences, etc. The load (incoming
transaction stream) in stress testing is often deliberately distorted so as to
force the system into resource depletion. Load testing is subjecting a system
to a statistically representative (usually) load. The two main reasons for
using such loads is in support of software reliability testing and in performance
testing. The term 'load testing' by itself is too vague and imprecise to
warrant use. For example, do you mean representative load,' 'overload,' 'high
load,' etc. In performance testing, load is varied from a minimum (zero) to the
maximum level the system can sustain without running out of resources or
having, transactions >suffer (application-specific) excessive delay. A third
use of the term is as a test whose objective is to determine the maximum
sustainable load the system can handle. In this usage, 'load testing' is merely
testing at the highest transaction arrival rate in performance testing.
125. What's the difference
between QA and testing? QA is more a
preventive thing, ensuring quality in the company and therefore the product
rather than just testing the product for software bugs? TESTING means 'quality
control' QUALITY CONTROL measures the quality of a product QUALITY ASSURANCE
measures the quality of processes used to create a quality product.
126. What is the best tester
to developer ratio? Reported tester:
developer ratios range from 10:1 to 1:10. There's no simple answer. It depends
on so many things, Amount of reused code, number and type of interfaces,
platform, quality goals, etc. It also can depend on the development model. The more
specs, the less testers. The roles can play a big part also. Does QA own beta?
Do you include process auditors or planning activities? These figures can all
vary very widely depending on how you define 'tester' and 'developer'. In some
organizations, a 'tester' is anyone who happens to be testing software at the
time -- such as their own. In other organizations, a 'tester' is only a member
of an independent test group. It is better to ask about the test labor content
than it is to ask about the tester/developer ratio. The test labor content,
across most applications is generally accepted as 50%, when people do honest
accounting. For life-critical software, this can go up to 80%.
127. How can new Software QA processes be introduced in an existing
organization? - A lot depends on the
size of the organization and the risks involved. For large organizations with
high-risk (in terms of lives or property) projects, serious management buy-in
is required and a formalized QA process is necessary. - Where the risk is
lower, management and organizational buy-in and QA implementation may be a
slower, step-at-a-time process. QA processes should be balanced with
productivity so as to keep bureaucracy from getting out of hand. - For small
groups or projects, a more ad-hoc process may be appropriate, depending on the
type of customers and projects. A lot will depend on team leads or managers,
feedback to developers, and ensuring adequate communications among customers,
managers, developers, and testers. - In all cases the most value for effort
will be in requirements management processes, with a goal of clear, complete,
testable requirement specifications or expectations.
128. What are 5 common problems in the software development process? 1. poor requirements - if requirements are unclear,
incomplete, too general, or not testable, there will be problems. 2.
unrealistic schedule - if too much work is crammed in too little time, problems
are inevitable. 3. inadequate testing - no one will know whether or not the
program is any good until the customer complains or systems crash. 4. features
- requests to pile on new features after development is underway; extremely
common. 5. miscommunication - if developers don't know what's needed or
customer's have erroneous expectations, problems are guaranteed.
129. What are 5 common solutions to software development problems? 1. solid requirements - clear, complete, detailed,
cohesive, attainable, testable requirements that are agreed to by all players.
Use prototypes to help nail down requirements. 2. realistic schedules - allow
adequate time for planning, design, testing, bug fixing, re-testing, changes,
and documentation; personnel should be able to complete the project without
burning out. 3. adequate testing - start testing early on, re-test after fixes
or changes, plan for adequate time for testing and bug-fixing. 4. stick to
initial requirements as much as possible - be prepared to defend against
changes and additions once development has begun, and be prepared to explain
consequences. If changes are necessary, they should be adequately reflected in
related schedule changes. If possible, use rapid prototyping during the design
phase so that customers can see what to expect. This will provide them a higher
comfort level with their requirements decisions and minimize changes later on.
5. communication - require walkthroughs and inspections when appropriate; make
extensive use of group communication tools - e-mail, groupware, networked
bug-tracking tools and change management tools, intranet capabilities, etc.;
insure that documentation is available and up-to-date - preferably electronic,
not paper; promote teamwork and cooperation; use prototypes early on so that
customers' expectations are clarified.
130. What is 'good code'? 'Good code'
is code that works, is bug free, and is readable and maintainable. Some
organizations have coding 'standards' that all developers are supposed to
adhere
to, but everyone has different ideas about what's best, or what is too many or
too few rules. There are also various theories and metrics, such as McCabe
Complexity metrics. It should be kept in mind that excessive use of standards
and rules can stifle productivity and creativity. 'Peer reviews', 'buddy
checks' code analysis tools, etc. can be used to check for problems and enforce
standards. For C and C++ coding, here are some typical ideas to consider in
setting rules/standards; these may or may not apply to a particular situation:
- minimize or eliminate use of global variables. - use descriptive function and
method names - use both upper and lower case, avoid abbreviations, use as many
characters as necessary to be adequately descriptive (use of more than 20
characters is not out of line); be consistent in naming conventions. - use
descriptive variable names - use both upper and lower case, avoid
abbreviations, use as many characters as necessary to be adequately descriptive
(use of more than 20 characters is not out of line); be consistent in naming
conventions. - function and method sizes should be minimized; less than 100
lines of code is good, less than 50 lines is preferable. - function
descriptions should be clearly spelled out in comments preceding a function's
code.- organize code for readability. - use whitespace generously - vertically
and horizontally - each line of code should contain 70 characters max. - one
code statement per line. - coding style should be consistent throughout a
program (eg, use of brackets, indentations, naming conventions, etc.) - in
adding comments, err on the side of too many rather than too few comments; a
common rule of thumb is that there should be at least as many lines of comments
(including header blocks) as lines of code. - no matter how small, an
application should include documentation of the overall program function and
flow (even a few paragraphs is better than nothing); or if possible a separate
flow chart and detailed program documentation. - make extensive use of error
handling procedures and status and error logging. - for C++, to minimize
complexity and increase maintainability, avoid too many levels of inheritance
in class hierarchies (relative to the size and complexity of the application).
Minimize use of multiple inheritance, and minimize use of operator overloading
(note that the Java programming language eliminates multiple inheritance and
operator overloading.) - for C++, keep class methods small, less than 50 lines
of code per method is preferable. - for C++, make liberal use of exception
handlers
131. What is 'good design'? 'Design'
could refer to many things, but often refers to 'functional design' or
'internal design'. Good internal design is indicated by software code whose
overall structure is clear, understandable, easily modifiable, and
maintainable; is robust with sufficient error-handling and status logging
capability; and works correctly when implemented. Good functional design is
indicated by an application whose functionality can be traced back to customer
and end-user requirements. For programs that have a user interface, it's often
a good idea to assume that the end user will have little computer knowledge and
may not read a user manual or even the on-line help; some common rules-of-thumb
include: - the program should act in a way that least surprises the user - it
should always be evident to the user what can be done next and how to exit -
the program shouldn't let the users do something stupid without warning them.
132. What makes a good test engineer? A good test engineer has a 'test to break' attitude,
an ability to take the point of view of the customer, a strong desire for
quality, and an attention to detail. Tact and diplomacy are useful in
maintaining a cooperative relationship with developers, and an ability to
communicate with both technical (developers) and non-technical (customers,
management) people is useful. Previous software development experience can be
helpful as it provides a deeper understanding of the software development
process, gives the tester an appreciation for the developers' point of view,
and reduce the learning curve in automated test tool programming. Judgment
skills are needed to assess high-risk areas of an application on which to focus
testing efforts when time is limited.
133. What makes a good
Software QA engineer? The same
qualities a good tester has are useful for a QA engineer. Additionally, they
must be able to understand the entire software development process and how it
can fit into the business approach and goals of the organization. Communication
skills and the ability to understand various sides of issues are important. In
organizations in the early stages of implementing QA processes, patience and
diplomacy are especially needed. An ability to find problems as well as to see
'what's missing' is important for inspections and reviews.
134. What makes a good QA or
Test manager? A good QA, test, or
QA/Test(combined) manager should: - be familiar with the software development
process - be able to maintain enthusiasm of their team and promote a positive
atmosphere, despite what is a somewhat 'negative' process (e.g., looking for or
preventing problems) - be able to promote teamwork to increase productivity -
be able to promote cooperation between software, test, and QA engineers - have
the diplomatic skills needed to promote improvements in QA processes -have the
ability to withstand pressures and say 'no' to other managers when quality is
insufficient or QA processes are not being adhered to - have people judgement
skills for hiring and keeping skilled personnel- be able to communicate with
technical and non-technical people, engineers, managers, and customers. - be
able to run meetings and keep them focused
135. What's the role of
documentation in QA? Critical. (Note
that documentation can be electronic, not necessarily paper.) QA practices
should be documented such that they are repeatable. Specifications, designs,
business rules, inspection reports, configurations, code changes, test plans,
test cases, bug reports, user manuals, etc. should all be documented. There
should ideally be a system for easily finding and obtaining documents and
determining what documentation will have a particular piece of information.
Change management for documentation should be used if possible.
136. What's the big deal
about 'requirements'? One of the most
reliable methods of insuring problems, or failure, in a complex software
project is to have poorly documented requirements specifications. Requirements
are the details describing an application's externally-perceived functionality
and properties. Requirements should be clear, complete, reasonably
detailed,
cohesive, attainable, and testable. A non-testable requirement would be, for
example, 'user-friendly' (too subjective). A testable requirement would be
something like 'the user must enter their previously-assigned password to
access the application'. Determining and organizing requirements details in a
useful and efficient way can be a difficult effort; different methods are
available depending on the particular project. Many books are available that
describe various approaches to this task. Care should be taken to involve ALL
of a project's significant 'customers' in the requirements process. 'Customers'
could be in-house personnel or out, and could include end-users, customer
acceptance testers, customer contract officers, customer management, future
software maintenance engineers, salespeople, etc. Anyone who could later derail
the project if their expectations aren't met should be included if possible.
Organizations vary considerably in their handling of requirements specifications.
Ideally, the requirements are spelled out in a document with statements such as
'The product shall.....'. 'Design' specifications should not be confused with
'requirements'; design specifications should be traceable back to the
requirements. In some organizations requirements may end up in high level
project plans, functional specification documents, in design documents, or in
other documents at various levels of detail. No matter what they are called,
some type of documentation with detailed requirements will be needed by testers
in order to properly plan and execute tests. Without such documentation, there
will be no clear-cut way to determine if a software application is performing
correctly.
137. What steps are needed to develop and run software tests? The following are some of the steps to consider: -
Obtain requirements, functional design, and internal design specifications and
other necessary documents - Obtain budget and schedule requirements - Determine
project-related personnel and their responsibilities, reporting requirements,
required standards and processes (such as release processes, change processes,
etc.) - Identify application's higher-risk aspects, set priorities, and
determine scope and limitations of tests - Determine test approaches and
methods - unit, integration, functional, system, load, usability tests, etc. -
Determine test environment requirements (hardware, software, communications,
etc.) -Determine testware requirements (record/playback tools, coverage
analyzers, test tracking, problem/bug tracking, etc.) - Determine test input
data requirements - Identify tasks, those responsible for tasks, and labor
requirements - Set schedule estimates, timelines, milestones - Determine input
equivalence classes, boundary value analyses, error classes - Prepare test plan
document and have needed reviews/approvals - Write test cases - Have needed
reviews/inspections/approvals of test cases - Prepare test environment and
testware, obtain needed user manuals/reference documents/configuration
guides/installation guides, set up test tracking processes, set up logging and
archiving processes, set up or obtain test input data - Obtain and install
software releases - Perform tests - Evaluate and report results - Track
problems/bugs and fixes - Retest as needed - Maintain and update test plans,
test cases, test environment, and testware through life cycle
138. What is 'configuration management'? Configuration management covers the processes used to
control, coordinate, and
track:
code, requirements, documentation, problems, change requests, designs,
tools/compilers/libraries/patches, changes made to them, and who makes the
changes.
139. What if the software is so buggy it can't really be tested at all?
The best bet in this situation is for
the testers to go through the process of reporting whatever bugs or
blocking-type problems initially show up, with the focus being on critical
bugs. Since this type of problem can severely affect schedules, and indicates
deeper problems in the software development process (such as insufficient unit
testing or insufficient integration testing, poor design, improper build or
release procedures, etc.) managers should be notified, and provided with some
documentation as evidence of the problem.
140. How can it be known when to stop
testing? This can be difficult to determine. Many modern software
applications are so complex, and run in such an interdependent environment,
that complete testing can never be done. Common factors in deciding when to
stop are: - Deadlines (release deadlines, testing deadlines, etc.)- Test cases
completed with certain percentage passed - Test budget depleted - Coverage of
code/functionality/requirements reaches a specified point - Bug rate falls
below a certain level - Beta or alpha testing period ends
141. What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing? Use risk analysis to determine where testing should be
focused. Since it's rarely possible to test every possible aspect of an
application, every possible combination of events, every dependency, or
everything that could go wrong, risk analysis is appropriate to most software
development projects. This requires judgement skills, common sense, and
experience. (If warranted, formal methods are also available.) Considerations
can include: - Which functionality is most important to the project's intended
purpose? - Which functionality is most visible to the user? - Which
functionality has the largest safety impact? - Which functionality has the
largest financial impact on users? - Which aspects of the application are most
important to the customer? - Which aspects of the application can be tested
early in the development cycle? - Which parts of the code are most complex, and
thus most subject to errors? - Which parts of the application were developed in
rush or panic mode? - Which aspects of similar/related previous projects caused
problems? - Which aspects of similar/related previous projects had large
maintenance expenses? - Which parts of the requirements and design are unclear
or poorly thought out? - What do the developers think are the highest-risk
aspects of the application? - What kinds of problems would cause the worst
publicity? - What kinds of problems would cause the most customer service
complaints?- What kinds of tests could easily cover multiple functionalities? -
Which tests will have the best high-risk-coverage to time-required ratio?
142. What can be done if requirements are changing continuously? A common problem and a major headache. - Work with the
project's stakeholders early on to understand how requirements might change so
that alternate test plans and strategies can be worked out in advance, if
possible. - It's helpful if the
application's
initial design allows for some adaptability so that later changes do not require
redoing the application from scratch. - If the code is well-commented and
well-documented this makes changes easier for the developers.- Use rapid
prototyping whenever possible to help customers feel sure of their requirements
and minimize changes. - The project's initial schedule should allow for some
extra time commensurate with the possibility of changes.- Try to move new
requirements to a 'Phase 2' version of an application, while using the original
requirements for the 'Phase 1' version. - Negotiate to allow only
easily-implemented new requirements into the project, while moving more
difficult new requirements into future versions of the application. - Be sure
that customers and management understand the scheduling impacts, inherent
risks, and costs of significant requirements changes. Then let management or
the customers (not the developers or testers) decide if the changes are
warranted - after all, that's their job. - Balance the effort put into setting
up automated testing with the expected effort required to re-do them to deal
with changes. - Try to design some flexibility into automated test scripts. -
Focus initial automated testing on application aspects that are most likely to
remain unchanged. - Devote appropriate effort to risk analysis of changes to
minimize regression testing needs. - Design some flexibility into test cases
(this is not easily done; the best bet might be to minimize the detail in the
test cases, or set up only higher-level generic-type test plans) - Focus less
on detailed test plans and test cases and more on ad hoc testing (with an
understanding of the added risk that this entails).
143. What if the project isn't big enough to justify extensive testing?
Consider the impact of project
errors, not the size of the project. However, if extensive testing is still not
justified, risk analysis is again needed and the same considerations as
described previously in 'What if there isn't enough time for thorough testing?'
apply. The tester might then do ad hoc testing, or write up a limited test plan
based on the risk analysis.
144. What if the application has functionality that wasn't in the
requirements? It may take serious
effort to determine if an application has significant unexpected or hidden
functionality, and it would indicate deeper problems in the software
development process. If the functionality isn't necessary to the purpose of the
application, it should be removed, as it may have unknown impacts or
dependencies that were not taken into account by the designer or the customer.
If not removed, design information will be needed to determine added testing
needs or regression testing needs. Management should be made aware of any
significant added risks as a result of the unexpected functionality. If the
functionality only effects areas such as minor improvements in the user
interface, for example, it may not be a significant risk.
145. How can Software QA processes be implemented without stifling
productivity? By implementing QA
processes slowly over time, using consensus to reach agreement on processes,
and adjusting and experimenting as an organization grows and matures,
productivity will be improved instead of stifled. Problem
prevention
will lessen the need for problem detection, panics and burn-out will decrease,
and there will be improved focus and less wasted effort. At the same time,
attempts should be made to keep processes simple and efficient, minimize
paperwork, promote computer-based processes and automated tracking and
reporting, minimize time required in meetings, and promote training as part of
the QA process. However, no one - especially talented technical types - likes
rules or bureaucracy, and in the short run things may slow down a bit. A
typical scenario would be that more days of planning and development will be
needed, but less time will be required for late-night bug-fixing and calming of
irate customers.
146. What if an organization is growing so fast that fixed QA processes
are impossible? This is a common
problem in the software industry, especially in new technology areas. There is
no easy solution in this situation, other than: - Hire good people - Management
should 'ruthlessly prioritize' quality issues and maintain focus on the
customer - Everyone in the organization should be clear on what 'quality' means
to the customer
147. How does a client/server environment affect testing? Client/server applications can be quite complex due to
the multiple dependencies among clients, data communications, hardware, and
servers. Thus testing requirements can be extensive. When time is limited (as
it usually is) the focus should be on integration and system testing.
Additionally, load/stress/performance testing may be useful in determining
client/server application limitations and capabilities. There are commercial
tools to assist with such testing.
148.How can World Wide Web sites be tested? Web sites are essentially client/server applications -
with web servers and 'browser' clients. Consideration should be given to the
interactions between html pages, TCP/IP communications, Internet connections,
firewalls, applications that run in web pages (such as applets, javascript,
plug-in applications), and applications that run on the server side (such as
cgi scripts, database interfaces, logging applications, dynamic page
generators, asp, etc.). Additionally, there are a wide variety of servers and
browsers, various versions of each, small but sometimes significant differences
between them, variations in connection speeds, rapidly changing technologies,
and multiple standards and protocols. The end result is that testing for web
sites can become a major ongoing effort. Other considerations might include: -
What are the expected loads on the server (e.g., number of hits per unit
time?), and what kind of performance is required under such loads (such as web
server response time, database query response times). What kinds of tools will
be needed for performance testing (such as web load testing tools, other tools
already in house that can be adapted, web robot downloading tools, etc.)? - Who
is the target audience? What kind of browsers will they be using? What kind of
connection speeds will they by using? Are they intra- organization (thus with
likely high connection speeds and similar browsers) or Internet-wide (thus with
a wide variety of connection speeds and browser types)? - What kind of
performance is expected on the client side (e.g., how fast should pages appear,
how fast should animations, applets, etc. load and run)? - Will down
time
for server and content maintenance/upgrades be allowed? how much? - What kinds
of security (firewalls, encryptions, passwords, etc.) will be required and what
is it expected to do? How can it be tested? - How reliable are the site's
Internet connections required to be? And how does that affect backup system or
redundant connection requirements and testing? - What processes will be
required to manage updates to the web site's content, and what are the
requirements for maintaining, tracking, and controlling page content, graphics,
links, etc.? - Which HTML specification will be adhered to? How strictly? What
variations will be allowed for targeted browsers? - Will there be any standards
or requirements for page appearance and/or graphics throughout a site or parts
of a site?? - How will internal and external links be validated and updated?
how often? - Can testing be done on the production system, or will a separate
test system be required? How are browser caching, variations in browser option
settings, dial-up connection variabilities, and real-world internet 'traffic
congestion' problems to be accounted for in testing?- How extensive or
customized are the server logging and reporting requirements; are they
considered an integral part of the system and do they require testing?- How are
cgi programs, applets, javascripts, ActiveX components, etc. to be maintained,
tracked, controlled, and tested? - Pages should be 3-5 screens max unless
content is tightly focused on a single topic. If larger, provide internal links
within the page. - The page layouts and design elements should be consistent
throughout a site, so that it's clear to the user that they're still within a
site. - Pages should be as browser-independent as possible, or pages should be
provided or generated based on the browser-type. - All pages should have links
external to the page; there should be no dead-end pages. - The page owner,
revision date, and a link to a contact person or organization should be
included on each page.
149. How is testing affected by object-oriented designs? Well-engineered object-oriented design can make it
easier to trace from code to internal design to functional design to
requirements. While there will be little affect on black box testing (where an
understanding of the internal design of the application is unnecessary),
white-box testing can be oriented to the application's objects. If the
application was well-designed this can simplify test design.
150. What is Extreme Programming and what's it got to do with testing? Extreme Programming (XP) is a software development
approach for small teams on risk-prone projects with unstable requirements. It
was created by Kent Beck who described the approach in his book 'Extreme
Programming Explained'. Testing ('extreme testing') is a core aspect of Extreme
Programming. Programmers are expected to write unit and functional test code
first - before the application is developed. Test code is under source control
along with the rest of the code. Customers are expected to be an integral part
of the project team and to help develop scenarios for acceptance/black box
testing. Acceptance tests are preferably automated, and are modified and rerun
for each of the frequent development iterations. QA and test personnel are also
required to be an integral part of the project team. Detailed requirements
documentation is not used, and frequent re-scheduling, re-estimating, and
re-prioritizing is expected.
151. Will automated testing tools make testing easier? - Possibly. For small projects, the time needed to
learn and implement them may not be worth it. For larger projects, or on-going
long-term projects they can be valuable. - A common type of automated tool is
the 'record/playback' type. For example, a tester could click through all
combinations of menu choices, dialog box choices, buttons, etc. in an
application GUI and have them 'recorded' and the results logged by a tool. The
'recording' is typically in the form of text based on a scripting language that
is interpretable by the testing tool. If new buttons are added, or some underlying
code in the application is changed, etc. the application can then be retested
by just 'playing back' the 'recorded' actions, and comparing the logging
results to check effects of the changes. The problem with such tools is that if
there are continual changes to the system being tested, the 'recordings' may
have to be changed so much that it becomes very time-consuming to continuously
update the scripts. Additionally, interpretation of results (screens, data,
logs, etc.) can be a difficult task. Note that there are record/playback tools
for text-based interfaces also, and for all types of platforms.- Other
automated tools can include: code analyzers - monitor code complexity,
adherence to standards, etc. coverage analyzers - these tools check which parts
of the code have been exercised by a test, and may be oriented to code
statement coverage, condition coverage, path coverage, etc. memory analyzers -
such as bounds-checkers and leak detectors. load/performance test tools - for
testing client/server and web applications under various load levels. web test
tools - to check that links are valid, HTML code usage is correct, client-side
and server-side programs work, a web site's interactions are secure. other
tools - for test case management, documentation management, bug reporting, and
configuration management.
152. What's the difference between black box and white box testing? Black-box and white-box are test design methods.
Black-box test design treats the system as a “black-box”, so it doesn't
explicitly use knowledge of the internal structure. Black-box test design is
usually described as focusing on testing functional requirements. Synonyms for
black-box include: behavioral, functional, opaque-box, and closed-box.
White-box test design allows one to peek inside the “box”, and it focuses
specifically on using internal knowledge of the software to guide the selection
of test data. Synonyms for white-box include: structural, glass-box and
clear-box. While black-box and white-box are terms that are still in popular
use, many people prefer the terms 'behavioral' and 'structural'. Behavioral
test design is slightly different from black-box test design because the use of
internal knowledge isn't strictly forbidden, but it's still discouraged. In
practice, it hasn't proven useful to use a single test design method. One has
to use a mixture of different methods so that they aren't hindered by the
limitations of a particular one. Some call this 'gray-box' or 'translucent-box'
test design, but others wish we'd stop talking about boxes altogether.It is
important to understand that these methods are used during the test design
phase, and their influence is hard to see in the tests once they're
implemented. Note that any level of testing (unit testing, system testing, etc.)
can use any test design methods. Unit testing is usually associated with
structural test design, but this is because testers usually don't have
well-defined requirements at the unit level to validate.
153. What kinds of testing should be considered? Black box testing - not based on any knowledge of
internal design or code. Tests are based on requirements and functionality.
White box testing - based on knowledge of the internal logic of an
application's code. Tests are based on coverage of code statements, branches,
paths, conditions.unit testing - the most 'micro' scale of testing; to test
particular functions or code modules. Typically done by the programmer and not
by testers, as it requires detailed knowledge of the internal program design
and code. Not always easily done unless the application has a well-designed
architecture with tight code; may require developing test driver modules or
test harnesses. incremental integration testing - continuous testing of an
application as new functionality is added; requires that various aspects of an
application's functionality be independent enough to work separately before all
parts of the program are completed, or that test drivers be developed as
needed; done by programmers or by testers. integration testing - testing of
combined parts of an application to determine if they function together
correctly. The 'parts' can be code modules, individual applications, client and
server applications on a network, etc. This type of testing is especially
relevant to client/server and distributed systems. functional testing -
black-box type testing geared to functional requirements of an application;
this type of testing should be done by testers. This doesn't mean that the
programmers shouldn't check that their code works before releasing it (which of
course applies to any stage of testing.) system testing - black-box type
testing that is based on overall requirements specifications; covers all
combined parts of a system. end-to-end testing - similar to system testing; the
'macro' end of the test scale; involves testing of a complete application
environment in a situation that mimics real-world use, such as interacting with
a database, using network communications, or interacting with other hardware,
applications, or systems if appropriate. sanity testing or smoke testing -
typically an initial testing effort to determine if a new software version is
performing well enough to accept it for a major testing effort. For example, if
the new software is crashing systems every 5 minutes, bogging down systems to a
crawl, or corrupting databases, the software may not be in a 'sane' enough
condition to warrant further testing in its current state. regression testing -
re-testing after fixes or modifications of the software or its environment. It
can be difficult to determine how much re-testing is needed, especially near
the end of the development cycle. Automated testing tools can be especially
useful for this type of testing. acceptance testing - final testing based on
specifications of the end-user or customer, or based on use by
end-users/customers over some limited period of time. load testing - testing an
application under heavy loads, such as testing of a web site under a range of
loads to determine at what point the system's response time degrades or
fails.stress testing - term often used interchangeably with 'load' and
'performance' testing. Also used to describe such tests as system functional
testing while under unusually heavy loads, heavy repetition of certain actions
or inputs, input of large numerical values, large complex queries to a database
system, etc. performance testing - term often used interchangeably with
'stress' and 'load' testing. Ideally 'performance' testing (and any other
'type' of testing) is defined in requirements documentation or QA or Test
Plans.usability testing - testing for 'user-friendliness'. Clearly this is
subjective, and will depend on the targeted end-user or customer. User
interviews, surveys, video
recording
of user sessions, and other techniques can be used. Programmers and testers are
usually not appropriate as usability testers. install/uninstall testing -
testing of full, partial, or upgrade install/uninstall processes. recovery
testing - testing how well a system recovers from crashes, hardware failures,
or other catastrophic problems. failover testing - typically used
interchangeably with 'recovery testing'security testing - testing how well the
system protects against unauthorized internal or external access, willful
damage, etc; may require sophisticated testing techniques. compatibility
testing - testing how well software performs in a particular
hardware/software/operating system/network/etc. environment. exploratory
testing - often taken to mean a creative, informal software test that is not
based on formal test plans or test cases; testers may be learning the software
as they test it. ad-hoc testing - similar to exploratory testing, but often
taken to mean that the testers have significant understanding of the software
before testing it. context-driven testing - testing driven by an understanding
of the environment, culture, and intended use of software. For example, the
testing approach for life-critical medical equipment software would be
completely different than that for a low-cost computer game. user acceptance
testing - determining if software is satisfactory to an end-user or customer.
comparison testing - comparing software weaknesses and strengths to competing
products. alpha testing - testing of an application when development is nearing
completion; minor design changes may still be made as a result of such testing.
Typically done by end-users or others, not by programmers or testers. beta
testing - testing when development and testing are essentially completed and
final bugs and problems need to be found before final release. Typically done
by end-users or others, not by programmers or testers. mutation testing - a
method for determining if a set of test data or test cases is useful, by
deliberately introducing various code changes ('bugs') and retesting with the
original test data/cases to determine if the 'bugs' are detected. Proper
implementation requires large computational resources.
154. Why is it often hard for management to get serious about quality
assurance? Solving problems is a
high-visibility process; preventing problems is low-visibility.This is
illustrated by an old parable:In ancient China there was a family of healers,
one of whom was known throughout the land and employed as a physician to a
great lord. The physician was asked which of his family was the most skillful
healer. He replied, "I tend to the sick and dying with drastic and
dramatic treatments, and on occasion someone is cured and my name gets out
among the lords.""My elder brother cures sickness when it just begins
to take root, and his skills are known among the local peasants and
neighbors." "My eldest brother is able to sense the spirit of
sickness and eradicate it before it takes form. His name is unknown outside our
home."
155. Why does software have bugs? 1. Miscommunication or no communication - as to specifics of what an
application should or shouldn't do (the application's requirements). 2.
Software complexity - the complexity of current software applications can be
difficult to comprehend for anyone without experience in modern-day software
development. Multi-tiered
applications,
client-server and distributed applications, data communications, enormous
relational databases, and sheer size of applications have all contributed to
the exponential growth in software/system complexity. programming errors -
programmers, like anyone else, can make mistakes. 3. Changing requirements
(whether documented or undocumented) - the end-user may not understand the
effects of changes, or may understand and request them anyway - redesign,
rescheduling of engineers, effects on other projects, work already completed
that may have to be redone or thrown out, hardware requirements that may be
affected, etc. If there are many minor changes or any major changes, known and
unknown dependencies among parts of the project are likely to interact and
cause problems, and the complexity of coordinating changes may result in
errors. Enthusiasm of engineering staff may be affected. In some fast-changing
business environments, continuously modified requirements may be a fact of
life. In this case, management must understand the resulting risks, and QA and
test engineers must adapt and plan for continuous extensive testing to keep the
inevitable bugs from running out of control. 3. Poorly documented code - it's
tough to maintain and modify code that is badly written or poorly documented;
the result is bugs. In many organizations management provides no incentive for
programmers to document their code or write clear, understandable, maintainable
code. In fact, it's usually the opposite: they get points mostly for quickly
turning out code, and there's job security if nobody else can understand it
('if it was hard to write, it should be hard to read'). 4. software development
tools - visual tools, class libraries, compilers, scripting tools, etc. often
introduce their own bugs or are poorly documented, resulting in added bugs.
156. How can new Software QA processes be introduced in an existing
organization? A lot depends on the
size of the organization and the risks involved. For large organizations with
high-risk (in terms of lives or property) projects, serious management buy-in
is required and a formalized QA process is necessary. Where the risk is lower,
management and organizational buy-in and QA implementation may be a slower,
step-at-a-time process. QA processes should be balanced with productivity so as
to keep bureaucracy from getting out of hand. For small groups or projects, a
more ad-hoc process may be appropriate, depending on the type of customers and
projects. A lot will depend on team leads or managers, feedback to developers,
and ensuring adequate communications among customers, managers, developers, and
testers. The most value for effort will often be in (a) requirements management
processes, with a goal of clear, complete, testable requirement specifications
embodied in requirements or design documentation, or in 'agile'-type
environments extensive continuous coordination with end-users, (b) design
inspections and code inspections, and (c) post-mortems/retrospectives.
157. how do the companies expect the defect reporting to be
communicated by the tester to the development team. Can the excel sheet
template be used for defect reporting. If so what are the common fields that are
to be included ? who assigns the priority and severity of the defect To report bugs in excel: Sno. Module Screen/ Section
Issue detail SeverityPriority
Issuestatusthis
is how to report bugs in excel sheet and also set filters on the Columns
attributes.But most of the companies use the share point process of reporting
bugs In this when the project came for testing a module wise detail of project
is inserted to the defect management system they are using. It contains
following field1. Date2. Issue brief3. Issue description (used for developer to
regenerate the issue)4. Issue status ( active, resolved, onhold, suspend and
not able to regenerate)5. Assign to (Names of members allocated to project)6.
Priority (High, medium and low)7. severity (Major, medium and low)
158. What are the tables in testplans and testcases? Test plan is a document that contains the scope,
approach, test design and test strategies. It includes the following:-1. Test
case identifier2. Scope3.Features to be tested4. Features not to be tested.5.
Test strategy.6. Test Approach7. Test Deliverables8. Responsibilities.9
Staffing and Training10.Risk and Contingencies11. ApprovalWhile A test case is
a noted/documented set of steps/activities that are carried out or executed on
the software in order to confirm its functionality/behavior to certain set of
inputs.
159. What are the table contents in testplans and test cases? Test Plan is a document which is prepared with the
details of the testing priority. A test Plan generally includes: 1. Objective
of Testing2. Scope of Testing3. Reason for testing4. Timeframe5. Environment6.
Entrance and exit criteria7. Risk factors involved8. Deliverables
160. What automating testing tools are you familiar with? Win Runner , Load runner, QTP , Silk Performer, Test
director, Rational robot, QA run.
161. How did you use automating testing tools in your job? 1. For regression testing2. Criteria to decide the
condition of a particular build3. Describe some problem that you had with
automating testing tool.The problem of winrunner identifying the third party
controls like infragistics control.
162. How do you plan test automation? 1. Prepare the automation Test plan2. Identify the
scenario3. Record the scenario4. Enhance the scripts by inserting check points
and Conditional Loops5. Incorporated Error Handler6. Debug the script7. Fix the
issue8. Rerun the script and report the result.
163. Can test automation improve test effectiveness? Yes, Automating a test makes the test
process:1.Fast2.Reliable3. Repeatable4.Programmable5.Reusable6.Comprehensive6.
What is data - driven automation?Testing the functionality with more test cases
becomes laborious as the functionality grows. For multiple sets of data (test
cases), you can execute the test once in which you can figure out for which
data it has failed and for which data, the test has passed. This feature is
available in the WinRunner with the data driven test where the data can be
taken from an excel sheet or notepad.
164. What are the main attributes of test automation? software test automation attributes :Maintainability -
the effort needed to update the test automation suites for each new
releaseReliability - the accuracy and repeatability of the test
automationFlexibility - the ease of working with all the different kinds of
automation test wareEfficiency - the total cost related to the effort needed
for the automationPortability - the ability of the automated test to run on
different environmentsRobustness - the effectiveness of automation on an
unstable or rapidly changing systemUsability - the extent to which automation
can be used by different types of users
165. Does automation replace manual testing? There can be some functionality which cannot be tested
in an automated tool so we may have to do it manually. therefore manual testing
can never be replaced. (We can write the scripts for negative testing also but
it is hectic task).When we talk about real environment we do negative testing
manually.
166. How will you choose a tool for test automation? choosing of a tool depends on many things ...1.
Application to be tested2. Test environment3. Scope and limitation of the
tool.4. Feature of the tool.5. Cost of the tool.6. Whether the tool is
compatible with your application which means tool should be able to interact with
your application7. Ease of use
167. How you will evaluate the tool for test automation? We need to concentrate on the features of the tools
and how this could be beneficial for our project. The additional new features
and the enhancements of the features will also help.
168. What are main benefits of test
automation?
FAST ,RELIABLE,COMPREHENSIVE,REUSABLE
169. What could go wrong with test automation? 1. The choice of automation tool for certain
technologies 2. Wrong set of test automated
170. How you will describe testing activities? Testing activities start from the elaboration phase.
The various testing activities are preparing the test plan, Preparing test
cases, Execute the test case, Log the bug, validate the bug & take
appropriate action for the bug, Automate the test cases.
171. What testing activities you may want to automate? Automate all the high priority test cases which needs
to be executed as a part of regression testing for each build cycle.
172. Describe common problems of test
automation. The common problems are:1. Maintenance of the old script when
there is a feature change or enhancement2. The change in technology of the
application will affect the old scripts
173. What types of scripting techniques for test automation do you
know? 5 types of scripting
techniques:LinearStructuredSharedData DrivenKey Driven
174. What are principles of good testing scripts for automation?
1. Proper code guiding standards2. Standard format for
defining functions, exception handler etc3. Comments for functions4. Proper
errorhandling mechanisms5. The appropriate synchronisation techniques18. What
tools are available for support of testing during software development life
cycle?Testing tools for regression and load/stress testing for regression
testing like, QTP, load runner, rational robot, winrunner, silk, testcomplete,
Astra are available in the market. -For defect tracking BugZilla, Test Runner
are available.
175. Can the activities of test case design be automated? As I know it, test case design is about formulating
the steps to be carried out to verify something about the application under
test. And this cannot be automated. However, I agree that the process of
putting the test results into the excel sheet.
176. What are the limitations of automating software testing? Hard-to-create environments like “out of memory”,
“invalid input/reply”, and “corrupt registry entries” make applications behave
poorly and existing automated tools can’t force these condition - they simply
test your application in “normal” environment.
177. What skills needed to be a good test automator? 1.Good Logic for programming.2. Analytical
skills.3.Pessimestic in Nature.
178. How to find that tools work well with your existing system? 1. Discuss with the support officials2. Download the
trial version of the tool and evaluate3. Get suggestions from people who are
working on the tool
179. Describe some problem that you had with automating testing tool 1. The inability of winrunner to identify the third
party control like infragistics controls2. The change of the location of the
table object will cause object not found error.3. The inability of the
winrunner to execute the script against multiple languages
180. What are the main attributes of test automation? Maintainability, Reliability, Flexibility, Efficiency,
Portability, Robustness, and Usability - these are the main attributes in test
automation.
181. What testing activities you may want to automate in a project? Testing tools can be used for :* Sanity tests(which is
repeated on every build),* stress/Load tests(U simulate a large no of users,
which is manually impossible) &* Regression tests(which are done after
every code change)
182. How to find that tools work well with your existing system? To find this, select the suite of tests which are most
important for your application.
First
run them with automated tool. Next subject the same tests to careful manual
testing. If the results are coinciding you can say your testing tool has been
performing.
183. How will you test the field that generates auto numbers of AUT
when we click the button 'NEW" in the application? We can create a textfile in a certain location, and
update the auto generated value each time we run the test and compare the
currently generated value with the previous one will be one solution.
184. How will you evaluate the fields in the application under test
using automation tool? We can use
Verification points(rational Robot) to validate the fields .Ex.Using
objectdata, objectdata properties VP we can validate fields.
185. Can we perform the test of single application at the same time
using different tools on the same machine? No. The Testing Tools will be in the ambiguity to determine which
browser is opened by which tool.
186. Difference between Web application Testing and Client Server
Testing. State the different types for Web application Testing and Client
Server Testing types? which winrunner
7.2 version compatible with internet explorer, firefox
187. What is 'configuration management'? Configuration management is a process to control and
document any changes made during the life of a project. Revision control,
Change Control, and Release Control are important aspects of Configuration
Management.
188. How to test the Web applications? The basic difference in webtesting is here we have to
test for URL's coverage and links coverage. Using WinRunner we can conduct
webtesting. But we have to make sure that Webtest option is selected in
"Add in Manager". Using WR we cannot test XML objects.
189. What are the problems encountered during the testing the
application compatibility on different browsers and on different operating
systems Font issues, alignment issues
190. How testing is proceeded when SRS or any other document is not
given?
If SRS is not there we can
perform Exploratory testing. In Exploratory testing the basic module is
executed and depending on its results, the next plan is executed.
191. How do we test for severe memory leakages ? By using Endurance Testing . Endurance Testing means
checking for memory leaks or other problems that may occur with prolonged
execution.
192. What is the difference between quality assurance and testing? Quality assurance involves the entire software
development process and testing involves operation of a system or application
to evaluate the results under certain conditions. QA is oriented to prevention
and Testing is oriented to detection.
193. Why does software have bugs? 1.miscommunication2.programming errors3.time pressures.4.changing
194. What is memory leaks
and buffer overflows ? Memory leaks
means incomplete deallocation - are bugs that happen very often. Buffer
overflow means data sent as input to the server that overflows the boundaries
of the input area, thus causing the server to misbehave. Buffer overflows can
be used.
195. What are the major
differences between stress testing,load testing,Volume testing? Stress testing means increasing the load ,and checking
the performance at each level. Load testing means at a time giving more load by
the expectation and checking the performance at that level. Volume testing
means first we have to apply initial.
196. What is Exhaustive
Testing? Testing which covers all
combinations of input values and preconditions for an element of the software
under test.
197. What is Functional
Decomposition? A technique used
during planning, analysis and design; creates a functional hierarchy for the
software.
198. What is Functional Specification? A document
that describes in detail the characteristics of the product with regard to its
intended features.
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