Istqb Key Terms - Chapter 1-3

Front 1

Software

Back 1

Computer programs, procedures, and possibly associated documentation and data pertaining to the operation of a computer system.

Front 2

Risk

Back 2

A factor that could result in future negative consequences; usually expressed as impact and likelihood.

Front 3

Error (mistake)

Back 3

A human action that produces an incorrect result.

Front 4

Defect (bug, fault)

Back 4

A flaw in a component or system that can cause the component or system to fail to perform its required function, e.g. an incorrect statement or data definition. A defect, if encountered during execution, may cause a failure of the component or system.

Front 5

Failure

Back 5

Deviation of the component or system from its expected delivery, service or result.

Front 6

Quality

Back 6

The degree to which a component, system or process meets specified requirements and/or user/customer needs and expectations.

Front 7

Exhaustive testing (complete testing)

Back 7

A test approach in which the test suite comprises all combinations of input values and preconditions.

Front 8

Testing

Back 8

The process consisting of all life cycle activities, both static and dynamic, concerned with planning, preparation and evaluation of software products and related work products to determine that they satisfy specified requirements, to demonstrate that they are fit for purpose and to detect defects.

Front 9

Software development

Back 9

All the activities carried out during the construction of a software product (the software development life cycle), for example, the definition of requirements, the design of a solution, the building of the software products that make up the system (code, documentation, etc.), the testing of those products and the implementation of the developed and tested products.

Front 10

Code

Back 10

Computer instructions and data definitions expressed in a programming language or in a form output by an assembler, compiler or other translator.

Front 11

Test basis

Back 11

All documents from which the requirements of a component or system can be inferred. The documentation on which the test cases are based. If a document can be amended only by way of formal amendment procedure, then the test basis is called a frozen test basis.

Front 12

Requirement

Back 12

A condition or capability needed by a user to solve a problem or achieve an objective that must be met or possessed by a system or system component to satisfy a contract, standard, specification, or other formally imposed document.

Front 13

Review

Back 13

An evaluation of a product or project status to ascertain discrepancies from planned results and to recommend improvements. Examples include management review, informal review, technical review, inspection, and walkthrough.

Front 14

Test case

Back 14

A set of input values, execution preconditions, expected results and execution postconditions, developed for a particular objective or test condition, such as to exercise a particular program path or to verify compliance with a specific requirement.

Front 15

Test objective

Back 15

A reason or purpose for designing and executing a test.

Front 16

Debugging

Back 16

The process of finding, analyzing and removing the causes of failures in software

Front 17

Testing shows presence of defects

Back 17

Testing can show that defects are present, but cannot prove that there are no defects. Testing reduces the probability of undiscovered defects remaining in the software but, even if no defects are found, it is not a proof of correctness.

Front 18

Exhaustive testing is impossible

Back 18

Testing everything (all combinations of inputs and preconditions) is not feasible except for trivial cases. Instead of exhaustive testing, we use risks and priorities to focus testing efforts.

Front 19

Early testing

Back 19

Testing activities should start as early as possible in the software or system development life cycle and should be focused on defined objectives.

Front 20

Defect clustering

Back 20

A small number of modules contain most of the defects discovered during prerelease testing or show the most operational failures.

Front 21

Pesticide paradox

Back 21

If the same tests are repeated over and over again, eventually the same set of test cases will no longer find any new bugs. To overcome this 'pesticide paradox', the test cases need to be regularly reviewed and revised, and new and different tests need to be written to exercise different parts of the software or system to potentially find more defects.

Front 22

Testing is context dependent

Back 22

Testing is done differently in different contexts. For example, safety-critical software is tested differently from an e-commerce site.

Front 23

Absence-of-errors fallacy

Back 23

Finding and fixing defects does not help if the system built is unusable and does not fulfill the users' needs and expectations.

Front 24

Fundamental Test Process

Back 24

1. planning and control;

2. analysis and design;

3. implementation and execution;

4. evaluating exit criteria and reporting;

5. test closure activities.

Front 25

Test plan

Back 25

A document describing the scope, approach, resources and schedule of intended test activities. It identifies, amongst others, test items, the features to be tested, the testing tasks, who will do each task, degree of tester independence, the test environment, the test design techniques and entry and exit criteria to be used and the rationale for their choice, and any risks requiring contingency planning. It is a record of the test planning process.

Front 26

Test policy

Back 26

A high-level document describing the principles, approach and major objectives of the organization regarding testing.

Front 27

Test strategy

Back 27

A high-level description of the test levels to be performed and the testing within those levels for an organization or program (one or more projects).

Front 28

Test approach

Back 28

The implementation of the test strategy for a specific project. It typically includes the decisions made based on the (test) project's goal and the risk assessment carried out, starting points regarding the test process, the test design techniques to be applied, exit criteria and test types to be performed.

Front 29

Coverage (test coverage)

Back 29

The degree, expressed as a percentage, to which a specified coverage item has been exercised by a test suite.

Front 30

Exit criteria

Back 30

The set of generic and specific conditions, agreed upon with the stakeholders, for permitting a process to be officially completed. The purpose of exit criteria is to prevent a task from being considered completed when there are still outstanding parts of the task which have not been finished. Exit criteria are used by testing to report against and to plan when to stop testing.

Front 31

Test control

Back 31

A test management task that deals with developing and applying a set of corrective actions to get a test project on track when monitoring shows a deviation from what was planned.

Front 32

Test monitoring

Back 32

A test management task that deals with the activities related to periodically checking the status of a test project. Reports are prepared that compare the actual status to that which was planned.

Front 33

Test basis

Back 33

All documents from which the requirements of a component or system can be inferred. The documentation on which the test cases are based. If a document can be amended only by way of formal amendment procedure, then the test basis is called a frozen test basis.

Front 34

Test condition

Back 34

An item or event of a component or system that could be verified by one or more test cases, e.g. a function, transaction, feature, quality attribute, or structural element.

Front 35

Test case

Back 35

A set of input values, execution preconditions, expected results and execution postconditions, developed for a particular objective or test condition, such as to exercise a particular program path or to verify compliance with a specific requirement.

Front 36

Test design specification

Back 36

A document specifying the test conditions (coverage items) for a test item, the detailed test approach and the associated high-level test cases.

Front 37

Test procedure specification (test script, manual test script)

Back 37

A document specifying a sequence of actions for the execution of a test.

Front 38

Test data

Back 38

Data that exists (for example, in a database) before a test is executed, and that affects or is affected by the component or system under test.

Front 39

Test suite

Back 39

A set of several test cases for a component or system under test, where the post condition of one test is often used as the precondition for the next one.

Front 40

Test execution

Back 40

The process of running a test by the component or system under test, producing actual results.

Front 41

Test log

Back 41

A chronological record of relevant details about the execution of tests.

Front 42

Incident

Back 42

Any event occurring that requires investigation.

Front 43

Re-testing (confirmation testing)

Back 43

Testing that runs test cases that failed the last time they were run, in order to verify the success of corrective actions.

Front 44

Regression testing

Back 44

Testing of a previously tested program following modification to ensure that defects have not been introduced or uncovered in unchanged areas of the software as a result of the changes made.

Front 45

Test summary report

Back 45

A document summarizing testing activities and results. It also contains an evaluation of the corresponding test items against exit criteria.

Front 46

Testware

Back 46

Artifacts produced during the test process required to plan, design, and execute tests, such as documentation, scripts, inputs, expected results, set-up and clear-up procedures, files, databases, environment, and any additional software or utilities used in testing.

Front 47

Independence

Back 47

Separation of responsibilities, which encourages the accomplishment of objective testing.

Front 48

Recall that the success of testing is influenced by psychological factors:

Back 48

- clear objectives;

- a balance of self-testing and independent testing;

- recognition of courteous communication and feedback on defects.

Front 49

Describe, with examples, the way in which a defect in software can cause harm to a person, to the environment or to a company. (K2)

Back 49

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Front 50

Distinguish between the root cause of a defect and its effects. (K2)

Back 50

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Front 51

Give reasons why testing is necessary by giving examples. (K2)

Back 51

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Front 52

Describe why testing is part of quality assurance and give examples of how testing contributes to higher quality. (K2)

Back 52

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Front 53

Recall the terms 'mistake', 'defect', 'fault', 'failure' and the corresponding terms 'error' and 'bug'. (K1)

Back 53

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Front 54

Recall the common objectives of testing. (K1)

Back 54

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Front 55

Provide examples for the objectives of testing in different phases of the software life cycle (K2)

Back 55

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Front 56

Differentiate testing from debugging (K2)

Back 56

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Front 57

Explain the seven principles of testing (K2)

Back 57

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Front 58

Recall the 5 fundamental test activities from planning to test closure activities and the main tasks of each test activity. (K1)

Back 58

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Front 59

Recall that the success of testing is influenced by psychological factors: (K1)

Back 59

clear objectives;

a balance of self-testing and independent testing;

recognition of courteous communication and feedback on defects.

Front 60

Contrast the mindset of a tester and that of a developer. (K2)

Back 60

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Front 61

Verification

Back 61

Confirmation by examination and through the provision of objective evidence that specified requirements have been fulfilled.

Front 62

Validation

Back 62

Confirmation by examination and through provision of objective evidence that the requirements for a specific intended use or application have been fulfilled.

Front 63

V-model

Back 63

A framework to describe the software development life cycle activities from requirements specification to maintenance. The V-model illustrates how testing activities can be integrated into each phase of the software development life cycle.

Front 64

Test level

Back 64

A group of test activities that are organized and managed together. A test level is linked to the responsibilities in a project.

Front 65

Off-the-shelf software (commercial off-the-shelf software, COTS)

Back 65

A software product that is developed for the general market, i.e. for a large number of customers, and that is delivered to many customers in identical format.

Front 66

Incremental development model

Back 66

A development life cycle where a project is broken into a series of increments, each of which delivers a portion of the functionality in the overall project requirements. The requirements are prioritized and delivered in priority order in the appropriate increment. In some (but not all) versions of this life cycle model, each subproject follows a 'mini V-model' with its own design, coding and testing phases.

Front 67

Component testing

Back 67

The testing of individual software components.

Front 68

Stub

Back 68

A skeletal or special-purpose implementation of a software component, used to develop or test a component that calls or is otherwise dependent on it. it replaces a called component.

Front 69

Driver

Back 69

A software component or test tool that replaces a component that takes care of the control and/or the calling of a component or system.

Front 70

Robustness

Back 70

The degree to which a component or system can function correctly in the presence of invalid inputs or stressful environmental conditions.

Front 71

Robustness testing

Back 71

Testing to determine the robustness of the software product.

Front 72

Test-driven development

Back 72

A way of developing software where the test cases are developed, and often automated, before the software is developed to run those test cases.

Front 73

Integration

Back 73

The process of combining components or systems into larger assemblies.

Front 74

Integration testing

Back 74

Testing performed to expose defects in the interfaces and in the interactions between integrated components or systems.

Front 75

System testing

Back 75

The process of testing an integrated system to verify that it meets specified requirements.

Front 76

Requirement

Back 76

A condition or capability needed by a user to solve a problem or achieve an objective that must be met or possessed by a system or system component to satisfy a contract, standard, specification, or other formally imposed document.

Front 77

Functional requirement

Back 77

A requirement that specifies a function that a component or system must perform.

Front 78

Non-functional requirement

Back 78

A requirement that does not relate to functionality, but to attributes of such as reliability, efficiency, usability, maintainability and portability.

Front 79

Test environment

Back 79

An environment containing hardware,instrumentation, simulators, software tools and other support elements needed to conduct a test.

Front 80

Acceptance testing

Back 80

Formal testing with respect to user needs, requirements and business processes conducted to determine whether or not a system satisfies the acceptance criteria and to enable the users, customers or other authorized entity to determine whether or not to accept the system.

Front 81

Operational testing

Back 81

testing conducted to evaluate a component or system in its operational environment.

Front 82

Compliance

Back 82

The capability of the software product to adhere to standards, conventions or regulations in laws and similar prescriptions.

Front 83

Compliance testing

Back 83

The process of testing to determine the compliance of component or system.

Front 84

Alpha testing

Back 84

Simulated or actual operational testing by potential users/customers or an independent test team at the developers' site, but outside the development organization. Alpha testing is often employed for off-the-shelf software as a form of internal acceptance testing.

Front 85

Beta testing

Back 85

Operational testing by potential and/or existing users/customers at an external site not otherwise involved with the developers, to determine whether or not a component or system satisfies the user/customer needs and fits within the business processes. Beta testing is often employed as a form of external acceptance testing for off-the-shelf software in order to acquire feedback from the market.

Front 86

Test type

Back 86

A group of test activities aimed at testing a component or system focused on a specific test objective, i.e. functional test, usability test, regression test, etc. A test type may take place on one or more test levels or test phases.

Front 87

Functional testing

Back 87

Testing based on an analysis of the specification of the functionality of a component or system.

Front 88

Black-box testing

Back 88

Testing, either functional or non-functional, without reference to the internal structure of the component or system.

Front 89

Black-box (specification-based) test design technique

Back 89

Procedure to derive and/or select test cases based on an analysis of the specification, either functional or nonfunctional, of a component or system without reference to its internal structure.

Front 90

Functionality

Back 90

The capability of the software product to provide functions that meet stated and implied needs when the software is used under specified conditions.

Hint 90

suitability, accuracy, security, interoperability and compliance

Front 91

Functionality testing

Back 91

The process of testing to determine the functionality of a software product.

Front 92

Interoperability

Back 92

The capability of the software product to interact with one or more specified components or systems.

Front 93

Interoperability testing

Back 93

The process of testing to determine the interoperability of a software product.

Front 94

Security

Back 94

Attributes of software products that bear on its ability to prevent unauthorized access, whether accidental or deliberate, to programs and data.

Front 95

Security testing

Back 95

Testing to determine the security of the software product.

Front 96

Load testing

Back 96

A test type concerned with measuring the behavior of a component or system with increasing load, e.g. the number of parallel users and/or numbers of transactions, to determine what load can be handled by the component or system.

Front 97

Performance

Back 97

The degree to which a system or component accomplishes its designated functions within given constraints regarding processing time and throughput rate.

Front 98

Performance testing

Back 98

The process of testing to determine the performance of a software product.

Front 99

Stress testing

Back 99

Testing conducted to evaluate a system or component at or beyond the limits of its specified requirements.

Front 100

Reliability

Back 100

The ability of the software product to perform its required functions under stated conditions for a specified period of time, or for a specified number of operations.

Hint 100

maturity (robustness), fault-tolerance, recoverability and compliance

Front 101

Reliability testing

Back 101

The process of testing to determine the reliability of a software product.

Front 102

Usability

Back 102

The capability of the software to be understood, learned, used and attractive to the user when used under specified conditions.

Hint 102

understandability, learnability, operability, attractiveness and compliance

Front 103

Usability testing

Back 103

Testing to determine the extent to which the software product is understood, easy to learn, easy to operate and attractive to the users under specified conditions.

Front 104

Efficiency

Back 104

The capability of the software product to provide appropriate performance, relative to the amount of resources used under stated conditions.

Hint 104

time behavior (performance), resource utilization and compliance

Front 105

Efficiency testing

Back 105

The process of testing to determine the efficiency of a software product.

Front 106

Portability

Back 106

The ease with which the software product can be transferred from one hardware or software environment to another.

Hint 106

adaptability, installability, co-existence, replaceability and compliance

Front 107

Portability testing

Back 107

The process of testing to determine the portability of a software product.

Front 108

White-box testing (structural testing)

Back 108

Testing based on an analysis of the internal structure of the component or system.

Front 109

Code coverage

Back 109

An analysis method that determines which parts of the software have been executed (covered) by the test suite and which parts have not been executed, e.g. statement coverage, decision coverage or condition coverage.

Front 110

Test suite

Back 110

A set of several test cases for a component or system under test, where the postcondition of one test is often used as the precondition for the next one.

Front 111

White-box test design technique

Back 111

A procedure to derive and/or select test cases based on an analysis of the internal structure of a component or system.

Front 112

Re-testing (confirmation testing)

Back 112

Testing that runs test cases that failed the last time they were run, in order to verify the success of corrective actions.

Front 113

Regression testing

Back 113

Testing of a previously tested program following modification to ensure that defects have not been introduced or uncovered in unchanged areas of the software as a result of the changes made. It is performed when the software or its environment is changed.

Front 114

Test automation

Back 114

The use of software to perform or support test activities, e.g. test management, test design, test execution and results checking.

Front 115

Maintenance

Back 115

Modification of a software product after delivery to correct defects, to improve performance or other attributes, or to adapt the product to a modified environment.

Front 116

Maintenance testing

Back 116

Testing the changes to an operational system or the impact of a changed environment to an operational system.

Front 117

Maintainability

Back 117

The ease with which a software product can be modified to correct defects, modified to meet new requirements, modified to make future maintenance easier, or adapted to a changed environment.

Hint 117

analyzability, changeability, stability, testability and compliance

Front 118

Maintainability testing

Back 118

The process of testing to determine the maintainability of a software product.

Front 119

Test oracle

Back 119

A source to determine expected results to compare with the actual result of the software under test. An oracle may be a requirements specification, the existing system (for a benchmark), a user manual, or an individual's specialized knowledge, but should not be the code.

Front 120

Impact analysis

Back 120

The assessment of change to the layers of development documentation, test documentation and components, in order to implement a given change to specified requirements.

Front 121

Operational environment

Back 121

Hardware and software products installed at users' or customers' sites where the component or system under test will be used. The software may include operating systems, database management systems, and other applications.

Front 122

Operational testing

Back 122

Testing conducted to evaluate a component or system in its operational environment.

Front 123

Characteristics of Good Testing

Back 123

- for every development activity there is a corresponding testing activity;

- each test level has test objectives specific to that level;

- the analysis and design of tests for a given test level should begin during the corresponding development activity;

- testers should be involved in reviewing documents as soon as drafts are available in the development cycle.

Front 124

Understand the relationship between development, test activities and work products in the development life cycle and give examples based on project and product characteristics and context. (K2)

Back 124

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Front 125

Recognize the fact that software development models must be adapted to the context of project and product characteristics. (K1)

Back 125

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Front 126

Recall characteristics of good testing that are applicable to any life cycle model (K1)

Back 126

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Front 127

Compare the different levels of testing: major objectives, typical objects of testing, typical targets of testing (e.g. functional or structural) and related work products, people who test, types of defects and failures to be identified. (K2)

Back 127

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Front 128

Compare four software test types (functional, non-functional, structural and change-related) by example. (K2)

Back 128

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Front 129

Recognize that functional and structural tests occur at any test level. (K1)

Back 129

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Front 130

Identify and describe non-functional test types based on non-functional requirements. (K2)

Back 130

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Front 131

Identify and describe test types based on the analysis of a software system's structure or architecture. (K2)

Back 131

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Front 132

Describe the purpose of confirmation testing and regression testing. (K2)

Back 132

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Front 133

Compare maintenance testing (testing an operational system) to testing a new application with respect to test types, triggers for testing and amount of testing. (K2)

Back 133

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Front 134

Recognize indicators for maintenance testing (modifications, migration and retirement). (K2)

Back 134

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Front 135

Describe the role of regression testing and impact analysis in maintenance. (K2)

Back 135

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Front 136

Testing

Back 136

The process consisting of all life cycle activities, both static and dynamic, concerned with planning, preparation and evaluation of software products and related work products to determine that they satisfy specified requirements, to demonstrate that they are fit for purpose and to detect defects.

Front 137

Static testing

Back 137

Testing of a component or system at specification or implementation level without execution of that software, e.g. reviews or static code analysis.

Front 138

Dynamic testing

Back 138

Testing that involves the execution of the software of a component or system.

Front 139

Review

Back 139

An evaluation of a product or project status to ascertain discrepancies from planned results and to recommend improvements. Examples include management review, informal review, technical review, inspection, and walkthrough.

Front 140

Informal review

Back 140

A review not based on a formal (documented) procedure.

Front 141

Formal review

Back 141

A review characterized by documented procedures and requirements, e.g. inspection.

Front 142

Moderator (inspection leader)

Back 142

The leader and main person responsible for an inspection or other review process.

Front 143

Entry criteria

Back 143

The set of generic and specific conditions for permitting a process to go forward with a defined task, e.g. test phase. The purpose of entry criteria is to prevent a task from starting which would entail more (wasted) effort compared to the effort needed to remove the failed entry criteria.

Front 144

Reviewer (inspector)

Back 144

The person involved in the review who identifies and describes defects in the product or project under review. Reviewers can be chosen to represent different viewpoints and roles in the review process.

Front 145

Exit criteria

Back 145

The set of generic and specific conditions, agreed upon with the stakeholders, for permitting a process to be officially completed. The purpose of exit criteria is to prevent a task from being considered completed when there are still outstanding parts of the task which have not been finished. Exit criteria are used to report against and to plan when to stop testing.

Front 146

Scribe

Back 146

The person who records each defect mentioned and any suggestions for process improvement during a review meeting, on a logging form. The scribe has to ensure that the logging form is readable and understandable.

Front 147

Peer review

Back 147

A review of a software work product by colleagues of the producer of the product for the purpose of identifying defects and improvements. Examples are inspection, technical review and walkthrough.

Front 148

Walkthrough

Back 148

A step-by-step presentation by the author of a document in order to gather information and to establish a common understanding of its content.

Front 149

Technical review

Back 149

A peer group discussion activity that focuses on achieving consensus on the technical approach to be taken.

Front 150

Inspection

Back 150

A type of peer review that relies on visual examination of documents to detect defects, e.g. violations of development standards and non-conformance to higher-level documentation. The most formal review technique and therefore always based on a documented procedure.

Front 151

Static analysis

Back 151

Analysis of software artifacts, e.g. requirements or code, carried out without execution of those software artifacts.

Front 152

Compiler

Back 152

A software tool that translates programs expressed in a high-order language into their machine-language equivalents.

Front 153

Complexity

Back 153

The degree to which a component or system has a design and/or internal structure that is difficult to understand, maintain and verify.

Front 154

Cyclomatic complexity

Back 154

The number of independent paths through a program. Cyciomatic complexity is defined as: L-N + 2P, where

L = the number of edges/links in a graph

N = the number of nodes in a graph

P = the number of disconnected parts of the graph (e.g. a called graph and a subroutine).

Front 155

Control flow

Back 155

A sequence of events (paths) in the execution through a component or system.

Front 156

Data flow

Back 156

An abstract representation of the sequence and possible changes of state of data objects, where the state of an object is any of: creation, usage, modification or destruction.

Front 157

Recognize software work products that can be examined by different static techniques. (K1)

Back 157

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Front 158

Describe the importance and value of considering static techniques for the assessment of software work products. (K2)

Back 158

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Front 159

Explain the difference between static and dynamic techniques, considering objectives, types of defects to be identified, and the role of these techniques within the software life cycle. (K2)

Back 159

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Front 160

Recall the activities, roles and responsibilities of a typical formal review. (Kl)

Back 160

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Front 161

Explain the differences between different types of review: informal review, technical review, walkthrough and inspection. (K2)

Back 161

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Front 162

Explain the factors for successful performance of reviews. (K2)

Back 162

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Front 163

Recall typical defects identified by static analysis and compare them to reviews and dynamic testing. (K1)

Back 163

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Front 164

Describe, using examples, the typical benefits of static analysis (K2)

Back 164

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Front 165

List typical code and design defects that may be identified by static analysis tools. (K1)

Back 165

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