Software Testing

The book attempts to synthesize several decades' worth of advances in software testing, skipping tentative techniques and short-lived fads to focus on time-tested ideas and concepts that are expected to remain relevant as testing technology evolves. This book is not necessarily interested in the latest technologies, precisely because such technologies do not remain "latest "for too long; rather it is interested in the principles, concepts and processes that are fundamental to the software testing function, and will likely remain relevant in the long run. This textbook recognizes the multiple uses of software testing, and explores the implications of the different uses on the conduct of the testing activity. By contrast, most other books equate testing with debugging, and focus on this particular goal at the exclusion of other important goals. This textbook recognizes the multiple phases and activities of software testing, and gives a balanced coverage of all these important phases and activities. By contrast, because they equate testing with debugging, most other books focus on the most critical activity of debugging, which is to diagnose faults, at the expense of other important tasks, such as test oracle design and implementation, test driver design and implementation, and test outcome analysis.