A case study in software testing
Date
1990
Authors
Franklin, Katherine Diane
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Abstract
Testing an entire software system or some part of one helps ensure that the software behaves as the designer intended; testing helps increase software quality. Testing falls into the classical cost/benefit tradeoff problem; testing software is expensive. The testing process is not well understood by many software developers. Due to the high costs and lack of understanding , testing is being performed inefficiently, ineffectively, or not at all.
We examine the characteristics of good testing and the issues that make testing expensive. We present the steps in the testing process and describe a case study in which we test two systems and two of their modules. We tested a stack based calculator, scale, and a symbol table module, symbol, from the BB software system , a demostrational system used for teaching software engineering . We tested case Tool, a CASE tool developed by ABC Inc. of Vancouver, and case Tools memory management module, Space. We maintained careful records of the costs we incurred and we discuss the effectiveness of the testing developed.
Through our records , we demonstrate the need to understand the testing process, the roles people play in the process , and the relationship to the software development process. We have discovered the importance of effective planning in reducing the costs of testing , and in turn , reducing costs in developing software.