A Practical Guide to Testing Object-Oriented Software - Softcover

McGregor, John D.; Sykes, David A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0201325640 ISBN 13: 9780201325645

Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional, 2001

Synopsis

A guide for those developing object-oriented software, to testing that can be integrated into each step of the development process, thereby increasing the chances that the finished product will be of high quality. Discusses all aspects of testing, life cycle, performance testing, and testing challenges related to object-oriented software creating. DLC: Computer software--Testing

About this title

About the Author

Dr. John D. McGregor is a senior partner in Korson-McGregor and an associate professor of computer science at Clemson University. Dr. McGregor is co-author, with David A. Sykes, of Object-oriented Software Development: Engineering Software for Reuse, published by Van Nostrand Reinhold. He writes a column on testing and quality for the Journal of Object-oriented Programming (JOOP) published by SIGS/101communications Publishing. Currently he serves on the editorial board of two journals: Journal for Software Testing Professionals (JSTP) and the International Journal of Computer and Information Sciences (IJCIS).

Dr. David A. Sykes is an assistant professor of computer science at Furman University. He is an associate of Korson-McGregor and has taught courses in object-oriented analysis, design, and testing. He was a developer of test cases in the Ada Compiler Validation Capability (ACVC) and the Jovial Compiler Validation Suite (JCVS).

0201325640AB04062001

From the Back Cover

A Practical Guide to Testing Object-Oriented Software focuses on the real-world issues that arise in planning and implementing effective testing for object-oriented and component-based software development. It shows how testing object-oriented software differs from testing procedural software and highlights the unique challenges and opportunities inherent in object-oriented software testing.

The authors reveal how object-oriented software development allows testing to be integrated into each stage of the process--from defining requirements to system integration--resulting in a smoother development process and a higher end quality. As they follow this process, they describe what to test at each stage as well as offer experienced-based testing techniques.

You will find information on such important topics as:

• Testing analysis and design models, including selecting test cases to guide design inspections
• Testing components, frameworks, and product lines
• The testing challenges of inheritance and polymorphism
• How to devise an effective testing strategy
• Testing classes, including constructing a test driver and test suites
• Testing object interactions, covering sampling test cases, off-the-shelf components, protocol testing, and test patterns
• Testing class hierarchies, featuring subclass test requirements
• Testing distributed objects, including threads, life cycle testing, and Web server testing
• Testing systems, with information on stress, life cycle, and performance testing

One comprehensive example runs throughout the book to demonstrate testing techniques for each stage of development. In addition, the book highlights important questions that testers should ask when faced with specific testing tasks.

The authors acknowledge that testing is often viewed as a necessary evil, and that resources allocated to testing are often limited. With that in mind, they present a valuable repertoire of testing techniques from which you can choose those that fit your budget, schedule, and needs.

0201325640B04062001

From the Inside Flap

Testing software is a very important and challenging activity. This is a book for people who test software during its development. Our focus is on object-oriented and component-based software, but you can apply many of the techniques discussed in this book regardless of the development paradigm. We assume our reader is familiar with testing procedural software--that is, software written in the procedural paradigm using languages such as C, Ada, Fortran, or COBOL. We also assume our reader is familiar and somewhat experienced in developing software using object-oriented and component-based technologies. Our focus is on describing what to test in object-oriented development efforts as well as on describing techniques for how to test object-oriented software, and how testing software built with these newer technologies differs from testing procedural software.

What is software testing? To us, testing is the evaluation of the work products created during a software development effort. This is more general than just checking part or all of a software system to see if it meets its specifications. Testing software is a difficult process, in general, and sufficient resources are seldom available for testing. From our standpoint, testing is done throughout a development effort and is not just an activity tacked on at the end of a development phase to see how well the developers did. We see testing as part of the process that puts quality into a software system. As a result, we address the testing of all development products (models) even before any code is written.

We do not necessarily believe that you will apply everything we describe in this book. There are seldom enough resources available to a development effort to do all the levels and kinds of testing we would like. We hope you will find a number of approaches and techniques that will prove useful to and affordable for your project.

In this book we describe a set of testing techniques. All of the techniques we describe have been applied in practice. Many of these techniques have been used in a wide variety of industries and on projects of vastly different sizes. In Chapter 3, we will consider the impact of some of these variables on the types of testing that are routinely performed.

To describe these techniques, we rely in many cases on one or more examples to illustrate their application. We hope from these examples and from our explanations that you can apply the same techniques to your project software in a straightforward manner. The complete code for these examples, test code, and other resources can be obtained via a link off this Web site.

In order to make this book as useful as possible, we will provide two major organizational threads. The physical layout of the book will follow the usual sequence of events as they happen on a project. Model testing will be addressed earlier than component or code testing, for example. We will also include a set of questions that a tester might ask when he or she is faced with specific testing tasks on a project. This testing FAQ will be tied into the main body of the text with citations.

We have included alternative techniques and ways of adapting techniques for varying the amount of testing. Testing life-critical or mission-critical software requires more effort than testing an arcade game. The summary sections of each chapter should make these choices clear.

This book is the result of many years of research, teaching, and consulting both in the university and in companies. We would like to thank the sponsors of our research, including COMSOFT, IBM, and AT&T for their support of our academic research. Thanks to the students who assisted in the research and those who sat through many hours of class and provided valuable feedback on early versions of the text. The consultants working for Korson-McGregor, formerly Software Architects, made many suggestions and worked with early versions of the techniques while still satisfying client needs. The employees of numerous consulting clients helped us perfect the techniques by providing real problems to be solved and valuable feedback. A special thanks to Melissa L. Russ (formerly Major) who helped teach several tutorials and made her usual insightful comments to improve the material.

Most of all, we wish to thank our families for enduring our mental and physical absences and for the necessary time to produce this work: Gayle and Mary Frances McGregor; Susan, Aaron, Perry, and Nolan Sykes.JDM
DAS 0201325640P04062001

Edition details

• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0201325640
• ISBN 13: 9780201325645
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 393