5.1) Use and Overview of Dynamic Procedures

Question 1

Briefly explain the term dynamic procedures and its application in in the software process.

Answer 1

Dynamic procedures are a form of analytical QA measures. They are also referred to as testing procedures, software tests, or, simply, tests. When testing software, a system or parts of a system are executed, specific input values are transferred, and the system behavior or the generated result is evaluated. The tests are therefore diagnostic measures for examining and evaluating the quality of software artifacts after they have been created.

Question 2

When does testing activies usually occur?

Answer 2

Testing activities do not occur after all development activities have been completed, but rather during development. Therefore, in industrial software development, testing is started as soon as the first software artifacts have been created.

Question 3

Please list the testing levels for Quality Assurance of Software Systems.

Answer 3

1. Unit tests
2. Integration tests
3. System tests
4. Acceptance tests

Question 4

A test case serves as a guideline for the execution of software tests and consists of the following elements:

Answer 4

• Preconditions that must be ensured before executing the test case.
• Test data or test actions that are entered or carried out during execution of the test case.
• Post-conditions, the fulfillment of which is examined after the test step.
• Descriptive data regarding the test case, such as name, ID, relevant component, function, or attribute being examined, use case, or name of the creator.

Question 5

What is the difference between Black Box and White Box Testing?

Answer 5

• Black Box Testing:
  The objective of black box testing is to examine all the functions and attributes required in the specification for a system or system component. When generating a test case, the focus is on covering as many of the specified functions of a system as possible. No information is available about the internal structure of the software to be tested because only the externally visible behavior is relevant.
• White Box Testing:
  White box tests are generated with knowledge of the program code, which, in contrast to black box tests, is known in this instance. The objective of white box testing is to cover as many of the assertions and control structures (such as if, while, for, switch) implemented in the source code as possible in order to test as many of the implemented instructions as possible.

Question 6

What is Test coverage?

Answer 6

This is the measure of completeness of test cases. The specific measured value depends on the type of test and the selected technique of test case generation.

Question 7

What are black box tests generally used for?

Answer 7

Black box tests are generally used to examine the interaction between various system components. They are very user-oriented and are typically used for integration, system, and acceptance tests. The specification takes on central importance for black box tests, in particular: the degree of test coverage is determined on the basis of the specification, it is used as the basis for generating the test cases, and the test results are evaluated on the basis of the specification.

Question 8

How are test cases in white box testing generated?

Answer 8

After a part of the source code has been implemented, the structure of the code that has actually been generated is analyzed. On this basis, test cases are then formulated to achieve the highest possible coverage of the source code created. After execution, the results are evaluated and, if necessary, the source code is modified before being tested again. The roles of developer and tester are often filled by one person, which is why these tests are also called developer tests.

Question 9

Why is it that industrial information systems cannot be fully tested?

Answer 9

In practice, it is fundamentally not possible to test industrial information systems fully and continuously. The objective of QA measures is not complete quality assurance, but rather cost-optimized quality assurance.

Question 10

What can be a challenge when selecting test cases for black box and white box testing?

Answer 10

Therefore, one of the main challenges in testing is the selection of suitable test cases and test data so that the highest possible test coverage can be achieved with the least possible effort and expense. In short, from the population of all possible input values, exactly those with which as many potential errors as possible can be identified must be selected.