Main terms and definitions in software testing area

1. Terms and Definitions

2.  Software testing – an investigation conducted
to provide the information about the quality
of the product or service under test; the
process consists of all life cycle activities,
both static and dynamic, concerned with
planning, preparation and evaluation of
software products and related work products
to determine that they satisfy specified
requirements, to demonstrate they are fit for
purpose and to detect defects

3.  Quality is the degree to which a component,
system or process meets specified
requirements and/or user/customer needs
and expectations
 Requirement – a condition or capability
needed by a user to solve a problem or
achieve an objective that must be met or
possessed by a system or system component
to satisfy a contract, standard, specification
or other formally imposed document

4.  Error – human action that produces an
incorrect result
 Defect (fault or bug) – is a flaw in a
component or system that can cause the
component or system to fail to perform its
required function
 Failure – is an actual deviation of the
component or system from its expected
delivery, service or result

5.  Test plan – a document describing the scope,
approach, resources and schedule of
intended test activities. It identifies amongst
others test items, the feature to be tested,
the testing tasks, who will do each task,
degree of test independence, the
measurement techniques to be used, and the
rationale for their choice, and any risks
requiring contingency

6.  Test case – a set of input values, execution
preconditions, expected results and
execution post-conditions developed for a
particular objective or test condition, such as
to exercise a particular program path or to
verify compliance with a specific requirement
 Test suite (test scenario) – a combination of
test cases where the result of one test case is
used as a start point for the next test case

7.  Test basis – all information describing the
software under test
 Test object – a (piece) of software under test
 Test objective – a reason or purpose for
designing and executing a test
 Test environment - a setup of software and
hardware which is used to perform the
testing processes.

8.  Bug report – a document describing an
incorrect behavior of the test object. Should
contain information on how to reproduce the
issue and expected result
 Test summary report – a document
summarizing testing activities and results. It
also contains an evaluation of the
corresponding test items against exit criteria
 Test coverage – the degree, expressed as a
percentage, to which a specified coverage
item has been exercised by a test suite

9.  Test type – a group of testing activities that
are organized and managed together and
named after the purpose of the test activity

10.  Functional testing – testing based on an
analysis of the specification of the
functionality of a component or system
 Non-functional testing – testing of attributes
of the functional behavior or the attributes of
the system as a whole, i.e. the quality the
software performs its function with.
 Testing of software structure – testing of
internal structure of the software component
or system as a set of such components

11.  Maintenance testing – testing the changes to
an operational system or the impact of a
changed environment to an operational
system
 Migration (conversion) testing – testing of
software used to convert data from existing
systems for use in replacement systems.

12.  Retesting – repeating of existing test to
assure that earlier faults are really repaired
 Regression testing – retest of a previously
tested software following modification to
ensure that faults have not been introduced
or uncovered as a result of the changes made

13.  Test level – a group of testing activities that
are organized and managed together and
named after the level of phase of the
underlying life cycle model

14.  Component testing – the testing of individual
software components
 Integration testing – testing performed to
expose defects in the interface and in the
interactions between integrated components
or systems.
 System testing – the process of testing an
integrated system to verify that it meets
specified requirements

15.  (User) Acceptance testing – formal testing
with respect to the user needs, requirements
and business processes conducted to
determine whether or not a system satisfies
the acceptance criteria and to enable the
user, customers or other authorized entity to
determine whether or not to accept the
system

16.  Alfa testing – a form of internal acceptance
testing performed by potential customers/
users or an independent test team at the
developer’s site, but outside the development
organization
 Bets testing – a form of external acceptance
testing performed by potential and/or
existing customer/user at an external site not
otherwise involved with the developers

17.  Black-box (specification-based) testing -
testing either functional or non-functional,
without reference to the internal structure of
the component or system
 White-box (structural) testing – testing based
on an analysis of the internal structure of the
component or system
 Gray-box testing – testing of a software
which internal details are partially understood
and access to documentation is limited

18.  Test automation – the use of software to
perform or support test activities, e.g. test
management, test design, test execution and
results checking

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