A free, searchable by word and topic on-line vocabulary and thesaurus with definitions, synonyms and quotations for over 600 terms associated with Software Testing and QA (Quality assurance)
Java testing Coming soon
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Key Word-Driven Testing. The approach developed by Carl Nagle of the SAS Institute that is offered as freeware on the Web; Key Word-Driven Testing is an enhancement to the data-driven methodology. [Daniel J. Mosley, 2002]
Kludge fix - temporary bug fix
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Latent bug A bug that has been dormant (unobserved) in two or more releases. [R. V. Binder, 1999]
Lateral testing. A test design technique based on lateral thinking principals, to identify faults. [Dorothy Graham, 1999]
Limits testing. See Boundary Condition testing.
Linear Code Sequence And Jump (LCSAJ) Testing A white-box test design technique that you can use to design test cases for a software component that executes LCSAJs.
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.
Load stress test. A test is design to determine how heavy a load the application can handle.
Load-stability test. Test design to determine whether a Web application will remain serviceable over extended time span.
Load isolation test. The workload for this type of test is designed to contain only the subset of test cases that caused the problem in previous testing.
Longevity testing. See Reliability testing.
Long-haul Testing. See Reliability testing.
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Master Test Planning. An activity undertaken to orchestrate the testing effort across levels and organizations.[Systematic Software Testing by Rick D. Craig and Stefan P. Jaskiel 2002]
Maintenance testing A type of testing that includes all software testing activities related to examining the impact of the changes made to an operational system or other environment changes.
Manual testing The process of testing software without the use of automated tools.
Memory leak testing. Testing the server components to see if memory is not properly referenced and released, which can lead to instability and the product's crashing.
Model-Based Testing. Model-based testing takes the application and models it so that each state of each input, output, form, and function is represented. Since this is based on detailing the various states of objects and data, this type of testing is very similar to charting out states. Many times a tool is used to automatically go through all the states in the model and try different inputs in each to ensure that they all interact correctly.[Lydia Ash, 2003]
Monkey Testing.Testers use the term monkey when referring to a fully automated testing tool. This tool doesn’t know how to use any application, so it performs mouse clicks on the screen or keystrokes on the keyboard randomly. The test monkey is technically known to conduct stochastic testing, which is in the category of black-box testing. There are different types of monkey testing.[Visual Test 6 Bible by Thomas R. Arnold, 1998 ]
Monkey Testing. (smart monkey testing) Input are generated from probability distributions that reflect actual expected usage statistics -- e.g., from user profiles. There are different levels of IQ in smart monkey testing. In the simplest, each input is considered independent of the other inputs. That is, a given test requires an input vector with five components. In low IQ testing, these would be generated independently. In high IQ monkey testing, the correlation (e.g., the covariance) between these input distribution is taken into account. In all branches of smart monkey testing, the input is considered as a single event.[Visual Test 6 Bible by Thomas R. Arnold, 1998 ]
Monkey Testing. (brilliant monkey testing) The inputs are created from a stochastic regular expression or stochastic finite-state machine model of user behavior. That is, not only are the values determined by probability distributions, but the sequence of values and the sequence of states in which the input provider goes is driven by specified probabilities.[Visual Test 6 Bible by Thomas R. Arnold, 1998 ]
Monkey Testing. (dumb-monkey testing)Inputs are generated from a uniform probability distribution without regard to the actual usage statistics.[Visual Test 6 Bible by Thomas R. Arnold, 1998 ]
Maximum Simultaneous Connection testing. This is a test performed to determine the number of connections which the firewall or Web server is capable of handling.
Migration Testing. Testing to see if the customer will be able to transition smoothly from a prior version of the software to a new one. [Scott Loveland, 2005]
Mirror testing Testing – manual or automated simultaneous of multiple environment configurations sometimes on different platforms.
Mutation testing. A testing strategy where small variations to a program are inserted (a mutant), followed by execution of an existing test suite. If the test suite detects the mutant, the mutant is 'retired.' If undetected, the test suite must be revised. [R. V. Binder, 1999]
Multiple Condition Coverage. A test coverage criteria which requires enough test cases such that all possible combinations of condition outcomes in each decision, and all points of entry, are invoked at least once.[G.Myers] Contrast with branch coverage, condition coverage, decision coverage, path coverage, statement coverage.
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Negative test. A test whose primary purpose is falsification; that is tests designed to break the software[B.Beizer1995]
Noncritical code analysis. Examines software elements that are not designated safety-critical and ensures that these elements do not cause a hazard. (IEEE)
Nonfunctional testing The testing of behavioral characteristics of software such as reliability, usability, efficiency, maintainability, and portability.[Occasionally used by some authors in a dictionary]
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Orthogonal array testing: Technique can be used to reduce the number of combination and provide maximum coverage with a minimum number of TC.Pay attention to the fact that it is an old and proven technique. The OAT was introduced for the first time by Plackett and Burman in 1946 and was implemented by G. Taguchi, 1987
Orthogonal array testing: Mathematical technique to determine which variations of parameters need to be tested. [William E. Lewis, 2000]
Oracle. Test Oracle: a mechanism to produce the predicted outcomes to compare with the actual outcomes of the software under test [from BS7925-1]
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Pairwise testing. Integration testing technique for verification that two elements can function together as expected.
Parallel Testing. Testing a new or an alternate data processing system with the same source data that is used in another system. The other system is considered as the standard of comparison. Syn: parallel run.[ISO]
Partition testing. Testing technique based on an assumption that all elements in any no overlapping subdomain have the same behaviour and test inputs can be selected accordingly to this assumption.
Penetration testing. The process of attacking a host from outside to ascertain remote security vulnerabilities. Other responsibilities of professional penetration tester is to enforce the countermeasure's for certain types of known attacks and vulnerabilities.
Performance Testing. Testing conducted to evaluate the compliance of a system or component with specific performance requirements [BS7925-1]
Performance testing can be undertaken to: 1) show that the system meets specified performance objectives, 2) tune the system, 3) determine the factors in hardware or software that limit the system's performance, and 4) project the system's future load- handling capacity in order to schedule its replacements" [Software System Testing and Quality Assurance. Beizer, 1984, p. 256]
Pilot testing – The process of testing a new system in a production environment after software development.
Postmortem. Self-analysis of interim or fully completed testing activities with the goal of creating improvements to be used in future.[Scott Loveland, 2005]
Preventive Testing Building test cases based upon the requirements specification prior to the creation of the code, with the express purpose of validating the requirements [Systematic Software Testing by Rick D. Craig and Stefan P. Jaskiel 2002]
Prior Defect History Testing. Test cases are created or rerun for every defect found in prior tests of the system. [William E. Lewis, 2000]
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This Internet Software Testing Computer Encyclopedia can be useful for students and other educational purposes as well as a reference material and a glossary for technical support.