Frequently Asked questions in software testing
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Printed Date: 26Nov2024 at 11:16am
Topic: Frequently Asked questions in software testing
Posted By: vidhya
Subject: Frequently Asked questions in software testing
Date Posted: 26Mar2007 at 11:16pm
What is 'Software Quality Assurance'?
Software QA involves the entire software development Process -
monitoring and improving the process, making sure that any agreed-upon
standards and procedures are followed, and ensuring that problems are
found and dealt with. It is oriented to 'prevention'. (See the Books
section for a list of useful books on Software Quality Assurance.)
2.What is 'Software Testing'?
Testing involves operation of a system or application under
controlled conditions and evaluating the results (eg, 'if the user is
in interface A of the application while using hardware B, and does C,
then D should happen'). The controlled conditions should include both
normal and abnormal conditions. Testing should intentionally attempt to
make things go wrong to determine if things happen when they shouldn't
or things don't happen when they should. It is oriented to 'detection'.
Organizations vary considerably in how they assign
responsibility for QA and testing. Sometimes they're the combined
responsibility of one group or individual. Also common are project
teams that include a mix of testers and developers who work closely
together, with overall QA processes monitored by project managers. It
will depend on what best fits an organization's size and business
structure.
3. What are some recent major computer system failures caused by software bugs?
* Media reports in January of 2005 detailed severe problems
with a $170 million high-profile U.S. government IT systems project.
Software testing was one of the five major problem areas according to a
report of the commission reviewing the project. Studies were under way
to determine which, if any, portions of the project could be salvaged.
* In July 2004 newspapers reported that a new government
welfare management system in Canada costing several hundred million
dollars was unable to handle a simple benefits rate increase after
being put into live operation. Reportedly the original contract allowed
for only 6 weeks of acceptance testing and the system was never tested
for its ability to handle a rate increase.
* Millions of bank accounts were impacted by errors due to
installation of inadequately tested software code in the transaction
processing system of a major North American bank, according to mid-2004
news reports. Articles about the incident stated that it took two weeks
to fix all the resulting errors, that additional problems resulted when
the incident drew a large number of e-mail phishing attacks against the
bank's customers, and that the total cost of the incident could exceed
$100 million.
* A bug in site management software utilized by companies with
a significant percentage of worldwide web traffic was reported in May
of 2004. The bug resulted in performance problems for many of the sites
simultaneously and required disabling of the software until the bug was
fixed.
* According to news reports in April of 2004, a software bug
was determined to be a major contributor to the 2003 Northeast
blackout, the worst power system failure in North American history. The
failure involved loss of electrical power to 50 million customers,
forced shutdown of 100 power plants, and economic losses estimated at
$6 billion. The bug was reportedly in one utility company's
vendor-supplied power monitoring and management system, which was
unable to correctly handle and report on an unusual confluence of
initially localized events. The error was found and corrected after
examining millions of lines of code.
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