Software Testing - A definition

                                                                                                                                             
What is Software Testing? Why is it important? Whenever a software product is being produced, software testing is one of the major phases of the Software Development Life Cycle. This phase basically involves trouble shooting the software code and trying to improve on a lot of other features like user-interactivity and efficiency in use.

There are basically 2 types of testing involved:

[1] White Box Testing
                                Also known as glass box, structural, clear box and open box testing. A software testing technique whereby explicit knowledge of the internal workings of the item being tested are used to select the test data. Unlike black box testing, white box testing uses specific knowledge of programming code to examine outputs. The test is accurate only if the tester knows what the program is supposed to do. He or she can then see if the program diverges from its intended goal. White box testing does not account for errors caused by omission, and all visible code must also be readable.
                                          For a complete software examination, both white box and black box tests are required.

[2] Black Box Testing
                                    Also known as functional testing. A software testing technique whereby the internal workings of the item being tested are not known by the tester. For example, in a black box test on a software design the tester only knows the inputs and what the expected outcomes should be and not how the program arrives at those outputs. The tester does not ever examine the programming code and does not need any further knowledge of the program other than its specifications.

The advantages of this type of testing include:

• The test is unbiased because the designer and the tester are independent of each other.
• The tester does not need knowledge of any specific programming languages.
• The test is done from the point of view of the user, not the designer.
• Test cases can be designed as soon as the specifications are complete.

The disadvantages of this type of testing include:

• The test can be redundant if the software designer has already run a test case.
• The test cases are difficult to design.
• Testing every possible input stream is unrealistic because it would take a inordinate amount of time; therefore, many program paths will go untested.

For a complete software examination, both white box and black box tests are required.

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