Outline of the presentation:  How to Perform Software Testing

I.                Introduction

A.     Introduce myself:

1)      Name: Minh Anh Nguyen

2)      Qualifications:

-         Graduated from Colorado State University in 2001 with a bachelor degree in Computer Engineering. 

-         Worked as a design-for-test (DFT) engineer and a test engineer for Intel and Agilent Technologies companies since 2003. 

-         Presently, I am a quality assurance (QA) engineer at KeySight Technologies in Loveland, Colorado.

3)      Interests:  in software testing education, i.e., developing materials and educational tools for teaching software testing or software engineering in general.

B.     Why software testing is Important?

1)      Today, most high tech activities involve software. There are many software products available in today’s fast-growing markets. Each software product serves various purposes in numerous fields such as medicine, science, building, accounting, etc.  These software products must satisfy users’ needs in the best way.  Customers want more from software releases with new features to be implemented in a short time period, but they do not like to work with defected software.

2)      Releasing software with any problems or bugs in it may affect the users’ experience, which makes a bad impact on quality reputation of the company name or brand.  Customers will remember a bad quality product. This is one of the reasons why testing of software before releasing is very important

3)      Provide an example to show why software must be tested before releasing to the user. 

4)      Software is written by people such as software engineers or developers. People are imperfect and make mistakes.

II.               Body

A.   Introduction of Software Testing?

1)      Software testing is the process of evaluating a developed system to assess the quality of the final product or computer software.

2)      The purposes of software testing are to discover errors, mistakes, and flaws in the developed software and to ensure that software satisfies the specified requirements of customers.

3)      Software testing is a crucial part of the software development cycle.

4)      Goals:

a.       to eliminate faults as early as possible

b.      to make sure the software works properly and  does  the  work  that  it  is  meant  to  perform

c.       to improve quality

d.      to preserve customer satisfaction

B.     Software requirements

1)      Prerequisite to installation

a.       Before installing or updating any new software, users need to know some of the requirements for installation to avoid any unexpected difficulties during execution

2)      Net Framework

                                                 a.      Some frameworks require .NET 4.0 runtime or higher to be installed in advance before launching the application.

                                                b.      The .NET 4.0 program can be downloaded for free from Microsoft Download.

3)      Internet Connection

                                                 a.      If the application is accessible through the internet, then it will likely require a faster internet line with minimum of 1Mbps.

                                                b.      This requirement is needed to avoid a high rate of failure.

4)      Operating System

                                                 a.      Users must check to see whether or not the software is compatible with their operating system such as Windows, Linux, Mac, etc, before they install the software.

5)      Hardware

                                                 a.      Users also need to check the application/software compatibility with different hardware configurations.

                                                b.      Hardware is mostly a computer, but sometimes it is a test instrument.

                                                 c.      Hardware and software are two main types of components required for a system to work.

C.     Testing

1)      Functional Testing Requirement

a.       The goal is to verify that the software or application meets customer’s requirements, that it does not have any major bugs, and to ensure that the software is ready for release to the public

2)      Non-Functional Testing Requirement

a.       The goal is to see whether or not the software stands up to customer expectations or if it behaves correctly and meets performance requirements.

3)      Test Case or suite

a.       Write test cases for valid as well as invalid input conditions.

b.       A good test should neither be too simple nor too complex.

c.       A good test case is one that detects real faults and has a probability of finding an as yet undiscovered error.

d.       What should your test program test?

4)      Test (Execute test)

a.       Run tests on the software and record the results

b.       Keep record of success and of failures

5)      Verified Test Case

a.       Thoroughly inspect the results of each test

b.       Check if the software does what it is expected to do

6)      Ease of Use

a.       If software is designed in such a way that navigation through it is user-friendly, test engineers need to test all the new features to ensure that these features work correctly.

7)      Simple Test Report

a.       Copy of each test script with evidence that it was executed (i.e., dated with the signature of the person who ran the test, and test results)

III.           Conclusion

A.     Benefits of software testing

1.      Software testing is necessary because it helps in identifying defects.

2.      The testing process may not fix the entire defect present in the software application, and it cannot guarantee that the software is 100% error free, but it provides user friendliness.

3.      Software Testing is important for increasing confidence that the software meets specification

4.      Failure to release a working product that meets customer requirements can damage company’s reputation and reduce overall product sales.