Courses from Schaefer Test Consulting

http://home.c2i.net/schaefer/testing.html

Software Test Management

• The basic ideology of modern software testing.
• How you can describe testing to other involved people.
• How software testing should be organized to be as effective as possible.
• How to monitor test progress and manage testing resources and schedules.
• How to interpret test results, and be sure about your release decisions.
• What kind of technology is available to increase testing efficiency and effectiveness.
• How to use defect data to improve your software work processes.
• How to tailor the general model to your own needs.

The topics:

• The basic ideology of defect removal.
• Introduction, basic facts, terminology, test model
• Planning the defect removal project
• Defect data collection: how to use defect data in order to improve our way to develop systems
• How to be sure the product is reliable enough: stop criteria for testing
• How to manage testing. Some metrics and their use.
• How to check that we tested well enough; white box testing
• Testing technology: software tools for test automation
• How to introduce better testing methods in your group.

Duration: 1 or two days. If one day, no exercises are included. The two days seminar includes exercises and group discussions.

Practical Software Test Methods

You will learn:

• How to structure the test work process.
• How to make test data that are maximum effective in finding defects.
• Class partitioning, cause effect graphing, boundary value analysis, data flow testing, state transition testing.
• How to choose the right order of integration.
• How to test non-functional product requirements, such as performance, usability etc.
• How to review documents and code in order to find defects.
• How to document the tests.
• How to make sure that the test survives with the system, to help test it during maintenance.

Topics to be covered:

• Testing documents: technical reviews
• Unit test
• How to find every detail that must be tested
• How to design test data
• How to make sure it does not require too much work
• Test environment
• The test methods in detail
• In this chapter, the most important test data selection methods are presented.
  • Equivalence partitioning
  • Boundary value analysis
  • Cause effect analysis
  • Category partition method
  • Dependency island method
  • Error guessing special value testing
• Integration test
  • How to find an integration order
  • What to test, what not to test
  • What to do if there is trouble
• Functional and nonfunctional system test
• Testing end user functions
• Testing performance
• Testing usability
• Testing other attributes
• How to verify that changes and error corrections work - regression testing
• Retesting during maintenance and after error repair
• Maintaining tests
• Automating tests
• Special chapter for reactive and object oriented systems: Testing based on state transition diagrams
• Test documentation: Standards and examples

Duration: Two days without exercises and three to four days with exercises.

Advanced Methods in Software Testing

• An overview of the advanced methods and their practical applicability
• Methods for testing logical combinations
• Cause effect graphing
• Minimizing logical combinations
• Dependency Island method
• Category partition method
• Classification tree method
• Test of real time embedded systems
• Testing of analog input signals
• Test of time dependent inputs
• Test of finite state machines
• Test of parallel signal input
• Test of object oriented programs
• Class testing
• Integration along inheritance structures
• Integration along object use
• Questions of retesting
• Testing for very high reliability or safety
• Mutation testing
• Reliability modeling and statistical test
• Choosing the right test methods, depending on program characteristics
• How to design maintainable automated test suites

Entry updated April 25, 2002
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