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Fundamentals of Software Testing
Revised and Updated 2nd Edition

Fundamentals of
Software Testing

Bernard Homès
First edition published 2011 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons,
Inc., © ISTE Ltd 2011.

This edition published 2024 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons,
Inc.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as
permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced,
stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers,
or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licenses issued by the
CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the
undermentioned address:

ISTE Ltd John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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UK USA

www.iste.co.uk www.wiley.com

© ISTE Ltd 2024

The rights of Bernard Homès to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted by him in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the
author(s), contributor(s) or editor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of ISTE Group.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024932622

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78630-982-2
 Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Chapter 1. Fundamentals of Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1. What is testing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1. Software and systems context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.2. Causes of software defects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.3. Role of testing in software development, maintenance
and operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.4. Tests and quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.5. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2. What is testing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.1. Origin of defects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.2. Common goals of testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2.3. Examples of objectives for testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.2.4. Test and debugging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3. Paradoxes and main principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3.1. Testing identifies the presence of defects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3.2. Exhaustive testing is impossible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3.3. Early testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.4. Defect clustering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3.5. Pesticide paradox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3.6. Testing is context dependent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3.7. Absence-of-errors fallacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.4. Test activities, testware and test roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.4.1. Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.4.2. Monitoring and control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.4.3. Test analysis and design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
vi Fundamentals of Software Testing

1.4.4. Test implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

1.4.5. Test execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.4.6. Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.4.7. Test completion activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
1.4.8. The value of traceability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1.4.9. Impact of context on the test process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1.5. Roles in testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.6. Essential skills and “good practices” in testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.6.1. Generic skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.6.2. Specific skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.6.3. Whole team approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.6.4. Independence of testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.6.5. Levels of independence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
1.6.6. Adapt to objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
1.6.7. Destructive or constructive? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
1.6.8. People skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
1.6.9. Change of perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
1.7. Testers and code of ethics (FL 1.6). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
1.7.1. Public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
1.7.2. Client and employer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
1.7.3. Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
1.7.4. Judgment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
1.7.5. Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
1.7.6. Profession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
1.7.7. Colleagues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
1.7.8. Self . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
1.8. Sample exam questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Chapter 2. Testing Throughout the Software Life Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

2.1. Testing through the software development life cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.1.1. Sequential models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2.1.2. Iterative models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.1.3. Incremental model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
2.1.4. RAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.1.5. Agile models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.1.6. Selection of a development model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.1.7. Positioning tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2.1.8. Test-first and shift-left approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
2.2. Test levels and test types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
2.2.1. Component-level testing or component tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
2.2.2. Integration-level testing or integration tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
2.2.3. System tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
 Contents vii

2.2.4. Acceptance tests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

2.2.5. Other levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
2.3. Types of tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
2.3.1. Functional tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
2.3.2. Nonfunctional tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
2.3.3. Tests based on the structure or architecture of the software . . . . . . . . . 76
2.3.4. Tests associated with changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
2.3.5. Comparisons and examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
2.4. Test and maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
2.4.1. Maintenance context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
2.4.2. Evolutive maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
2.4.3. Corrective maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
2.4.4. Retirement and replacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
2.4.5. Regression test policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
2.4.6. SLA validation and acceptance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
2.5. Oracles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
2.5.1. Problems with oracles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
2.5.2. Sources of oracles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
2.5.3. Oracle usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
2.6. Process improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
2.6.1. Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
2.6.2. Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
2.6.3. Retrospectives and improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
2.7. Specific cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
2.7.1. Performance tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
2.7.2. Maintainability tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
2.8. Sample exam questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Chapter 3. Static Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

3.1. Static techniques and the test process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
3.2. Review process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
3.2.1. Types of reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
3.2.2. Roles and responsibilities during reviews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
3.2.3. Phases of reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
3.2.4. Success factors for reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
3.2.5. Comparison of the types of reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
3.3. Static analysis by tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
3.3.1. Types of static analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
3.3.2. Types of defects that can be identified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
3.3.3. Data flow analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
3.4. Added value of static activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
3.5. Sample exam questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
viii Fundamentals of Software Testing

Chapter 4. Test Design Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

4.1. The test development process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
4.1.1. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
4.1.2. Traceability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
4.2. Categories of test design techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
4.2.1. Black box, white box or gray box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
4.2.2. Experience-based techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
4.2.3. Test characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
4.2.4. Limitations and assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
4.3. Black-box techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
4.3.1. Equivalence partitioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
4.3.2. Boundary value analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
4.3.3. Decision tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
4.3.4. Other combinational techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
4.3.5. State transition testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
4.3.6. Use case testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
4.3.7. Limitations and assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
4.4. Structure-based techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
4.4.1. Statement testing and coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
4.4.2. Decision testing and coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
4.4.3. Other structure-based techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
4.4.4. MC/DC coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
4.4.5. Limitations and assumptions of structure-based testing . . . . . . . . . . . 189
4.4.6. Coverage level and exit criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
4.5. Experience-based technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
4.5.1. Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
4.5.2. Defect taxonomies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
4.5.3. Error guessing and ad hoc testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
4.5.4. Exploratory testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
4.5.5. Limitations and assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
4.6. Collaboration-based test approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
4.6.1. Collaborative user stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
4.6.2. Acceptance criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
4.6.3. Acceptance test-driven development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
4.7. Choosing test techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
4.8. Sample exam questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Chapter 5. Test Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

5.1. Test organization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
5.1.1. Independence levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
5.1.2. Roles and responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
5.1.3. Human and contractual aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
 Contents ix

5.2. Test planning and estimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

5.2.1. Planning and evaluation activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
5.2.2. Test planning activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
5.2.3. Test documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
5.2.4. Entry and exit criteria for test activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
5.3. Test progress monitoring and control (FL 5.3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
5.4. Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
5.4.1. What to report, to whom and how? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
5.4.2. Statistics and graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
5.5. Transverse processes and activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
5.5.1. Test data definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
5.5.2. Configuration management (FL 5.4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
5.5.3. Change management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
5.6. Risk management (FL 5.2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
5.6.1. Principles of risk management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
5.6.2. Project risks and product risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
5.6.3. Introduction to risk management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
5.7. Defect management (FL 5.5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
5.7.1. Introduction to defect management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
5.7.2. Defect identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
5.7.3. Actions applied to defects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
5.7.4. Defect disposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
5.8. Sample exam questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Chapter 6. Tools Support for Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

6.1. Types of test tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
6.1.1. Test tool classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
6.1.2. Tools supporting test management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
6.1.3. Tools supporting requirement management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
6.1.4. Tools supporting static tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
6.1.5. Modeling tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
6.1.6. Tools supporting test design and test data creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
6.1.7. Tools supporting test execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
6.1.8. Tools supporting test environment management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
6.1.9. Tools supporting test data comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
6.1.10. Tools supporting test coverage measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
6.1.11. Other test supporting tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
6.2. Assumptions and limitations of test tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
6.2.1. Advantages and risks of the tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
6.2.2. Specific considerations for some tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
6.3. Selecting and introducing tools in an organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
6.3.1. Main principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
x Fundamentals of Software Testing

6.3.2. Tool selection process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

6.3.3. Test tool implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
6.3.4. To build or to buy test tools? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
6.4. Sample exam questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Chapter 7. Mock Exam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Chapter 8. Templates and Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

8.1. Master test plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
8.2. Test plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
8.2.1. Test plan as per IEEE 829-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
8.2.2. Test plan as per IEEE 829-2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
8.3. Test design document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
8.3.1. Test design specifications as per IEEE 829-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
8.3.2. Test design document as per IEEE 829-2008. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
8.4. Test case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
8.4.1. Test case document as per IEEE 829-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
8.4.2. Test case document as per IEEE 829-2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
8.5. Test procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
8.5.1. Test procedure document as per IEEE 829-1998. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
8.5.2. Test procedure document as per IEEE 829-2008. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
8.6. Test log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
8.6.1. Test log as per IEEE 829-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
8.6.2. Test log as per IEEE 829-2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
8.7. Defect report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
8.7.1. Defect report as per IEEE 829-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
8.7.2. Defect report as per IEEE 829-2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
8.8. Test report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
8.8.1. Test report as per IEEE 829-1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
8.8.2. Interim test report as per IEEE 829-2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
8.8.3. Level test report as per IEEE 829-2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
8.8.4. Master test report as per IEEE 829-2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Chapter 9. Answers to the Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

9.1. Answers to the end-of-chapter questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
9.2. Correct answers to the sample paper questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
 Preface

“My eldest brother sees the spirit of sickness and removes it before
it takes shape, so his name does not get out of the house. My elder
brother cures sickness when it is still extremely minute, so his name
does not get out of the neighborhood. As for me, I puncture veins,
prescribe potions, and massage skin, so from time to time my name
gets out and is heard among the lords”.
– Sun Tzu, The Art of War

I often turn to the above quote, replacing “sickness” by “defects”, and applying it
to software instead of humans. I have seen few eldest brothers, a number of elder
ones, and am perhaps in the last category of practitioners.

Why this book?

As we know, software testing is increasingly important in the industry, reflecting

the increasing importance of software quality in today’s world. Since 2011, when
the first edition of this book was published, there have been evolutions in the
software industry that have impacted software testing. This new – revised – edition
will help testers adopt more up-to-date fundamental practices.

Due to the lack of formal and recognized training in software testing, a group of
specialist consultants gathered together in 2002 and founded the International
Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB). They defined the minimal set of
methodological and technical knowledge that testers should know depending on
their experience. This was gathered into what is called a syllabus. The foundation
level syllabus was reviewed in 2023 and has been the basis of an international
certification scheme that has already been obtained by more than 1,000,000 testers
xii Fundamentals of Software Testing

worldwide. This book can serve as reference material for testers preparing the
ISTQB foundation level exam, and for any beginner testers. It references the 2023
version of the ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level syllabus.

This book follows the order and chapters of the syllabus, which should help you
to successfully complete the certification exam. It is a one-stop reference book
offering you:
– more detailed explanations than those found in the ISTQB syllabus;
– definitions of the terms (i.e. the Glossary) used in the certification exams;
– practice questions similar to those encountered during the certification exam;
– a sample exam.

For testers who want to acquire a good understanding of software and system
tests, this book provides the fundamental principles as described by the ISTQB and
recognized experts.

This book provides answers and areas of discussion to enable test leaders and
managers to:
– improve their understanding of testing;
– have an overview of process improvement linked to software testing;
– increase the efficiency of their software development and tests.

Throughout this book, you will find learning objectives (denoted as FL-…) that
represent the ISTQB foundation level syllabus learning objectives. These are the
topics that certification candidates should know and that are examined in
certification exams.

Prerequisite

Software testing does not require specific prerequisites, but a basic

understanding of data processing and software will allow you to better understand
software testing.

The reader with software development knowledge, whatever the programming

language, will understand certain aspects faster, but a simple practice as a user
should be enough to understand this book.
 Preface xiii

ISTQB and national boards

The ISTQB is a not-for-profit international association grouping national

software testing boards covering over 50 countries. These national boards are made
up of software testing specialists, consultants and experts, and together they define
the syllabi and examination directives for system and software testers.

A number of prominent authors of software testing books participated in the

creation of the initial syllabi, ensuring that they reflect what a tester should know
depending on their level of experience (foundation, advanced, expert) and their
objectives (test management, functional testing and test techniques, specialization in
software security or performance testing, etc.).

Glossary, syllabus and business outcomes

The ISTQB is aware of the broad diversity of terms used and the associated
diversity of interpretation of these terms depending on the customers, countries and
organizations. A common glossary of software testing terms has been set up and
national boards provide translation of these terms in national languages to promote
better understanding of the terms and the associated concepts. This becomes
increasingly important in a context of international cooperation and offshore
sub-contracting.

The syllabi define the basis of the certification exams; they also help to define
the scope of training and are applicable at three levels of experience: foundation
level, advanced level and expert level. This book focuses on the foundation level.

The foundation level, made up of a single module, is detailed in the following

chapters.

Expected business outcomes, as stated by the ISTQB, are as follows for

foundation level testers:
– understand what testing is and why it is beneficial;
– understand the fundamental concepts of software testing;
– identify the test approach and activities to be implemented depending on the
context of testing;
– assess and improve the quality of documentation;
– increase the effectiveness and efficiency of testing;
xiv Fundamentals of Software Testing

– align the test process with the software development life cycle;
– understand test management principles;
– write and communicate clear and understandable defect reports;
– understand the factors that influence the priorities and efforts related to testing;
– work as part of a cross-functional team;
– know the risks and benefits related to test automation;
– identify the essential skills required for testing;
– understand the impact of risk on testing;
– effectively report on test progress and quality.

As we can see, the work of a tester impacts many different aspects in software
development, from evaluating the quality of input documentation (specifications,
requirements, user stories, etc.) to reporting on progress and risks, to test automation
and interacting with the development teams to understand what to test and explain
what defects are identified.

ISTQB certification

The ISTQB proposes software tester certifications, which are recognized as

equivalent by all ISTQB member boards throughout the world. The level of
difficulty of the questions and the exams are based on identical criteria (defined in
the syllabi) and terminology (defined in the Glossary).

The certification exams proposed by the ISTQB enable the candidates to validate
their knowledge, and assure employers or potential customers of a minimum level of
knowledge from their testers, whatever their origin. Training providers deliver
courses to help participants succeed in the certification exams, however much of the
training involves brain cramming sessions and does not ensure that the participant
has the required level of autonomy to succeed in the profession. This book attempts
to identify the necessary skills, as well as provide the reader with a concentrate of
more than 40 years of practice in the field of software quality and testing.

The ISTQB certifications are recognized as equivalent throughout the whole

world, enabling international cross-recognition.
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