Quality Dictionary

Acceptance Testing

Formal testing conducted to enable a user, customer, or other authorized entity to determine whether to accept a system or component.

Actual Outcome

The behaviour actually produced when the object is tested under specified conditions.

Adding Value

Adding something that the customer wants that was not there before.

Ad hoc Testing

Testing carried out using no recognized test case design technique.

Alpha Testing

Simulated or actual operational testing at an in-house site not otherwise involved with the software developers.

Arc Testing

A test case design technique for a component in which test cases are designed to execute branch outcomes.

Backus-Naur Form

A metalanguage used to formally describe the syntax of a language.

Basic Block

A sequence of one or more consecutive, executable statements containing no branches.

Basis Test Set

A set of test cases derived from the code logic, which ensure that 100% branch coverage is achieved.

Bebugging

The process of intentionally adding known faults to those already in a computer program for the purpose of monitoring the rate of detection and removal, and estimating the number of faults remaining in the program.

Behaviour

The combination of input values and preconditions and the required response for a function of a system. The full specification of a function would normally comprise one or more behaviours.

Benchmarking

Comparing your product to the best competitors'.

Beta Testing

Operational testing at a site not otherwise involved with the software developers.

Big-bang Testing

Integration testing where no incremental testing takes place prior to all the system's components being combined to form the system.

Black Box Testing

Test case selection that is based on an analysis of the specification of the component without reference to its internal workings. Testing by looking only at the inputs and outputs, not at the insides of a program.

Sometimes also called "Requirements Based Testing". You don't need to be a programmer, you only need to know what the program is supposed to do and be able to tell whether an output is correct or not.

Bottom-up Testing

An approach to testing where the lowest level components are tested first, then used to facilitate the testing of higher level components. The process is repeated until the component at the top of the hierarchy is tested.

Boundary Value

An input value or output value which is on the boundary between equivalence classes, or an incremental distance either side of the boundary.

Boundary Value Analysis

A test case design technique for a component in which test cases are designed which include representatives of boundary values.

Boundary Value Coverage

The percentage of boundary values of the component's equivalence classes, which have been exercised by a test case suite.

Boundary Value Testing

A test case design technique for a component in which test cases are designed which include representatives of boundary values.

Boundary Value Coverage

The percentage of boundary values of the component's equivalence classes, which have been exercised by a test case suite.

Boundary Value Testing

A test case design technique for a component in which test cases are designed which include representatives of boundary values.