Defect testing


Testing programs to establish
the presence of system defects

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 1

Objectives

To understand testing techniques that are geared
to discover program faults

To introduce guidelines for interface testing

To understand specific approaches to object-
oriented testing

To understand the principles of CASE tool
support for testing

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 2

Topics covered

Defect testing

Integration testing

Object-oriented testing

Testing workbenches

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 3

The testing process

Component testing
• Testing of individual program components
• Usually the responsibility of the component developer (except
sometimes for critical systems)
• Tests are derived from the developer’s experience

Integration testing
• Testing of groups of components integrated to create a system
or sub-system
• The responsibility of an independent testing team
• Tests are based on a system specification

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 4

Testing phases

Component Integration
testing testing

Software developer Independent testing team

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 5

Defect testing

The goal of defect testing is to discover defects in
programs

A successful defect test is a test which causes a
program to behave in an anomalous way

Tests show the presence not the absence of
defects

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 6

Testing priorities

Only exhaustive testing can show a program is
free from defects. However, exhaustive testing
is impossible

Tests should exercise a system's capabilities
rather than its components

Testing old capabilities is more important than
testing new capabilities

Testing typical situations is more important than
boundary value cases

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 7

Test data and test cases

Test data Inputs which have been devised to
test the system

Test cases Inputs to test the system and the
predicted outputs from these inputs if the
system operates according to its specification

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 8

The defect testing process

Test Test Test Test

cases data results reports

Design test Prepare test Run program Compare results

cases data with test data to test cases

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 9

Black-box testing

An approach to testing where the program is
considered as a ‘black-box’

The program test cases are based on the system
specification

Test planning can begin early in the software
process

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 10

Black-box testing
Inputs causing
anomalous
Input test data I behaviour
e

System

Outputs which reveal

the presence of
Output test results Oe defects

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 11

Equivalence partitioning

Input data and output results often fall into
different classes where all members of a class are
related

Each of these classes is an equivalence partition
where the program behaves in an equivalent way
for each class member

Test cases should be chosen from each partition

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 12

Equivalence partitioning

Invalid inputs Valid inputs

System

Outputs

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 13

Equivalence partitioning

Partition system inputs and outputs into
‘equivalence sets’
• If input is a 5-digit integer between 10,000 and 99,999,
equivalence partitions are <10,000, 10,000-99, 999 and >
10, 000

Choose test cases at the boundary of these
sets
• 00000, 09999, 10000, 99999, 10001

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 14

Equivalence partitions
3 11
4 7 10

Less than 4 Between 4 and 10 More than 10

Number of input values

9999 100000
10000 50000 99999

Less than 10000 Between 10000 and 99999 More than 99999

Input values
©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 15
Search routine specification
procedure Search (Key : ELEM ; T: ELEM_ARRAY;
Found : in out BOOLEAN; L: in out ELEM_INDEX) ;

Pre-condition
-- the array has at least one element
T’FIRST <= T’LAST
Post-condition
-- the element is found and is referenced by L
( Found and T (L) = Key)
or
-- the element is not in the array
( not Found and
not (exists i, T’FIRST >= i <= T’LAST, T (i) = Key ))

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 16

Search routine - input partitions

Inputs which conform to the pre-conditions

Inputs where a pre-condition does not hold

Inputs where the key element is a member of
the array

Inputs where the key element is not a member
of the array

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 17

Testing guidelines (sequences)

Test software with sequences which have only a
single value

Use sequences of different sizes in different tests

Derive tests so that the first, middle and last
elements of the sequence are accessed

Test with sequences of zero length

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 18

Search routine - input partitions
Array Element
Single value In sequence
Single value Not in sequence
More than 1 value First element in sequence
More than 1 value Last element in sequence
More than 1 value Middle element in sequence
More than 1 value Not in sequence

Input sequence (T) Key (Key) Output (Found, L)

17 17 true, 1
17 0 false, ??
17, 29, 21, 23 17 true, 1
41, 18, 9, 31, 30, 16, 45 45 true, 7
17, 18, 21, 23, 29, 41, 38 23 true, 4
21, 23, 29, 33, 38 25 false, ??
©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 19
Structural testing

Sometime called white-box testing

Derivation of test cases according to program
structure. Knowledge of the program is used to
identify additional test cases

Objective is to exercise all program statements
(not all path combinations)

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 20

White-box testing

Test data

Tests Derives

Component Test
code outputs

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 21

class BinSearch {

// This is an encapsulation of a binary search function that takes an array of

// ordered objects and a key and returns an object with 2 attributes namely
// index - the value of the array index
// found - a boolean indicating whether or not the key is in the array
// An object is returned because it is not possible in Java to pass basic types by
// reference to a function and so return two values
// the key is -1 if the element is not found

public static void search ( int key, int [] elemArray, Result r )

{
int bottom = 0 ;
int top = elemArray.length - 1 ;
int mid ;
r.found = false ; r.index = -1 ;
while ( bottom <= top )
{
mid = (top + bottom) / 2 ;
if (elemArray [mid] == key)
{
r.index = mid ;
r.found = true ;
return ;
} // if part
else
{
if (elemArray [mid] < key)
bottom = mid + 1 ;
else
top = mid - 1 ;
}
} //while loop
} // search
Binary search (Java)
} //BinSearch
Binary search - equiv. partitions

Pre-conditions satisfied, key element in array

Pre-conditions satisfied, key element not in
array

Pre-conditions unsatisfied, key element in array

Pre-conditions unsatisfied, key element not in
array

Input array has a single value

Input array has an even number of values

Input array has an odd number of values
©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 23
Binary search equiv. partitions
Equivalence class boundaries

Elements < Mid Elements > Mid

Mid-point

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 24

Binary search - test cases

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 25

Path testing

The objective of path testing is to ensure that the
set of test cases is such that each path through the
program is executed at least once

The starting point for path testing is a program
flow graph that shows nodes representing
program decisions and arcs representing the flow
of control

Statements with conditions are therefore nodes in
the flow graph

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 26

Program flow graphs

Describes the program control flow. Each branch
is shown as a separate path and loops are shown
by arrows looping back to the loop condition
node

Used as a basis for computing the cyclomatic
complexity

Cyclomatic complexity = Number of edges -
Number of nodes +2

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 27

Cyclomatic complexity

The number of tests to test all control
statements equals the cyclomatic complexity

Cyclomatic complexity equals number of
conditions in a program

Useful if used with care. Does not imply
adequacy of testing.

Although all paths are executed, all combinations
of paths are not executed

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 28

 1

while bottom <= top

bottom > top
2

3 if (elemArray [mid] == key

8 4
(if (elemArray [mid]< key

5 6
9

Binary search flow graph

Independent paths

1, 2, 3, 8, 9

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 2

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 2

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 2, 8, 9

Test cases should be derived so that all of these
paths are executed

A dynamic program analyser may be used to
check that paths have been executed

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 30

Integration testing

Tests complete systems or subsystems composed
of integrated components

Integration testing should be black-box testing
with tests derived from the specification

Main difficulty is localising errors

Incremental integration testing reduces this
problem

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 31

Incremental integration testing
A T1
T1
A
T1 T2
A B
T2
T2 B T3
T3
B C
T3 T4
C
T4
D T5

Test sequence Test sequence Test sequence

1 2 3
©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 32
Approaches to integration testing

Top-down testing
• Start with high-level system and integrate from the top-down
replacing individual components by stubs where appropriate

Bottom-up testing
• Integrate individual components in levels until the complete
system is created

In practice, most integration involves a
combination of these strategies

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 33

 Top-down testing
Testing
Level 1 Level 1 . ..
sequence

Level 2 Level 2 Le vel 2 Level 2

Le vel 2
stubs

Le vel 3
stubs

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 34

Bottom-up testing
Test
drivers

Testing
Level N Level N Le vel N Level N Level N
sequence

Test
drivers
Level N–1 Level N–1 Level N–1

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 35

Tetsing approaches

Architectural validation
• Top-down integration testing is better at discovering errors in the
system architecture

System demonstration
• Top-down integration testing allows a limited demonstration at an
early stage in the development

Test implementation
• Often easier with bottom-up integration testing

Test observation
• Problems with both approaches. Extra code may be required to
observe tests

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 36

Interface testing

Takes place when modules or sub-systems are
integrated to create larger systems

Objectives are to detect faults due to interface
errors or invalid assumptions about interfaces

Particularly important for object-oriented
development as objects are defined by their
interfaces

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 37

Interface testing
Test
cases

A B

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 38

Interfaces types

Parameter interfaces
• Data passed from one procedure to another

Shared memory interfaces
• Block of memory is shared between procedures

Procedural interfaces
• Sub-system encapsulates a set of procedures to be called by
other sub-systems

Message passing interfaces
• Sub-systems request services from other sub-systems

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 39

Interface errors

Interface misuse
• A calling component calls another component and makes an
error in its use of its interface e.g. parameters in the wrong order

Interface misunderstanding
• A calling component embeds assumptions about the behaviour
of the called component which are incorrect

Timing errors
• The called and the calling component operate at different speeds
and out-of-date information is accessed

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 40

Interface testing guidelines

Design tests so that parameters to a called
procedure are at the extreme ends of their ranges

Always test pointer parameters with null pointers

Design tests which cause the component to fail

Use stress testing in message passing systems

In shared memory systems, vary the order in
which components are activated

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 41

Stress testing

Exercises the system beyond its maximum design
load. Stressing the system often causes defects to
come to light

Stressing the system test failure behaviour.. Systems
should not fail catastrophically. Stress testing checks
for unacceptable loss of service or data

Particularly relevant to distributed systems
which can exhibit severe degradation as a
network becomes overloaded

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 42

Object-oriented testing

The components to be tested are object classes
that are instantiated as objects

Larger grain than individual functions so
approaches to white-box testing have to be
extended

No obvious ‘top’ to the system for top-down
integration and testing

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 43

Testing levels

Testing operations associated with objects

Testing object classes

Testing clusters of cooperating objects

Testing the complete OO system

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 44

Object class testing

Complete test coverage of a class involves
• Testing all operations associated with an object
• Setting and interrogating all object attributes
• Exercising the object in all possible states

Inheritance makes it more difficult to design
object class tests as the information to be tested is
not localised

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 45

Weather station object interface

Test cases are needed for all operations
WeatherStation 
Use a state model to identify state
identifier transitions for testing
reportWeather () 
Examples of testing sequences
calibrate (instruments) • Shutdown  Waiting  Shutdown
test () • Waiting  Calibrating  Testing  Transmitting  Waiting
startup (instruments) • Waiting  Collecting  Waiting  Summarising 
shutdown (instruments) Transmitting  Waiting

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 46

Object integration

Levels of integration are less distinct in object-
oriented systems

Cluster testing is concerned with integrating and
testing clusters of cooperating objects

Identify clusters using knowledge of the operation
of objects and the system features that are
implemented by these clusters

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 47

Approaches to cluster testing

Use-case or scenario testing
• Testing is based on a user interactions with the system
• Has the advantage that it tests system features as experienced by
users

Thread testing
• Tests the systems response to events as processing threads
through the system

Object interaction testing
• Tests sequences of object interactions that stop when an object
operation does not call on services from another object

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 48

Scenario-based testing

Identify scenarios from use-cases and supplement
these with interaction diagrams that show the
objects involved in the scenario

Consider the scenario in the weather station
system where a report is generated

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 49

Collect weather data
:CommsController :WeatherStation :WeatherData

request (report)

acknowledge ()
report ()
summarise ()

send (report)
reply (report)

acknowledge ()

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 50

Weather station testing

Thread of methods executed
• CommsController:request  WeatherStation:report 
WeatherData:summarise

Inputs and outputs
• Input of report request with associated acknowledge and a final
output of a report
• Can be tested by creating raw data and ensuring that it is
summarised properly
• Use the same raw data to test the WeatherData object

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 51

Testing workbenches

Testing is an expensive process phase. Testing
workbenches provide a range of tools to reduce
the time required and total testing costs

Most testing workbenches are open systems
because testing needs are organisation-specific

Difficult to integrate with closed design and
analysis workbenches

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 52

A testing workbench
Test data
Specification
generator

Source Test Oracle

code manager Test data

Dynamic Program Test Test

analyser being tested results predictions

Execution File
Simulator
report comparator

Report Test results

generator report

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 53

Tetsing workbench adaptation

Scripts may be developed for user interface
simulators and patterns for test data generators

Test outputs may have to be prepared manually
for comparison

Special-purpose file comparators may be
developed

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 54

Key points

Test parts of a system which are commonly used
rather than those which are rarely executed

Equivalence partitions are sets of test cases where
the program should behave in an equivalent way

Black-box testing is based on the system
specification

Structural testing identifies test cases which cause
all paths through the program to be executed

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 55

Key points

Test coverage measures ensure that all statements
have been executed at least once.

Interface defects arise because of specification
misreading, misunderstanding, errors or invalid
timing assumptions

To test object classes, test all operations,
attributes and states

Integrate object-oriented systems around clusters
of objects

©Ian Sommerville 2000 Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 20 Slide 56