Types of Software Testing - a Glossary

It's amusing that software testing is a conversation starter or stopper at a party when you exchange details on what you do for a living during first greetings, depending upon whether you meet a fellow ‘techie’ or not! Software testing doesn't have to be daunting; it can be fun and interesting!

Today we welcome back Jane Kelly who dives into the fascinating world of Track & Trace.

Track & Trace has been heavily reported on in the news and it has made me think about some of the synergies with Software Testing. Tracking can be thought of in terms of the emerging path of what is being analysed, where its current state is, and where it is likely to end up. Like testing, tracking requires many different measures to provide value.

To explain the difference between Black Box Testing and White Box Testing, simply put, if you think about a car, you have two types of people, the driver (black box) and the mechanic (white box). The driver doesn’t really need to understand how the engine works to drive, just press a few buttons and levers and turn the wheel and you are off. The mechanic however, lifts the hood and tinkers with the engines to make the car go, looking at the internal mechanisms, following the flow of petrol into the engine right through to the output gases from the exhaust.

So, what is the best software testing technique for my project? Hmmm, tricky one to answer without looking more closely at your project. There are many factors that determine the software testing techniques you’ll need to employ.