Testing Techniques

Testing Techniques

1. Test Harnesses

   • Used to streamline software development and possibly to assist with future maintenance.
   • Can be used to automate the testing processes.
   • Consists of predefined software and testing scripts, plus expected test results.
   • Can be operated whenever a change is made to the software, enables developers to establish quickly whether or not changes been successful.
   • Can avoid the need to perform lengthy and time- consuming manual testing.

2. Performance Testing

   • Performed to determine how fast some aspect of the system performs under a particular workload.
   • To help demonstrate that a system meets performance criteria, it can compare two systems to find which performs better.
   • Can measure what parts of the system are causing it to perform badly.

3. Volume and Scalability Testing

   • Used to test the anticipated peak volumes of data input or network traffic and is necessary to test the performance (as opposed to the functionality) of a system under live conditions.
   • Works out how much the system should be able to handle and working on increasing that amount of traffic it can handle.

4. Usability Testing

   • For measuring how well people can use an ICT system or part of a system for its intended purpose.
   • If usability testing uncovers difficulties, such as people having difficulty understanding instructions, knowing what to do next, interpreting feedback etc then developers should improve the design and re-test.

5. Mulit-platform/Portability Testing

   • Some systems will be used on a range of different hardware and operating system platforms.
   • Testing is needed on all the possible hardware/software platforms anticipated before live implementation.

6. Prototyping

   • Making a mock up on what they want to final system to be like.
   • Where prototypes have been used to define the system, the outputs and appearance of the completed system can be compared with the prototype system.

7. Simulated Environments

   • Some of the hardware and software platforms mentioned above can be simulated on just one manufacturer's hardware.