Software Testing

Software testing provides stakeholders with knowledge about the software under test. It should provide an objective and independent assessment to give the business an appreciation and understanding of the risks involved in implementing the software. Testing techniques include, but are not confined to, executing a program or application with the intent of finding software bugs.

When software is tested the aim is to validate and verify that the software:

• matches the specification that governed its design and development
• functions as required
• can be used with the same attributes

Software testing can be carried out at any stage in the development process. This depends on the test method used. Most testing, however, is carried out after the requirements have been specified and coding is finished. This means that the development methodology used dictates the testing methodology.

The software testing effort will be centred on different points of the development process depending on the software development model used. Agile, one of the newer software testing development models uses test driven development and puts an increased amount of testing in the control of the developer before a team of formal testers take over. Traditional models dictate that testing takes place after the requirements have been determined and the coding process is ended.