What is Exploratory Testing (ET)? I am asked this every once in a while and I hear a wide range of ideas as to what it is. This is one of those topics where Wikipedia doesn't really help much.
For some, ET is just "good" testing and the reason we say "exploratory" is to distinguish it from bad testing practices. Unfortunately, bad, lazy, haphazard, thoughtless, incomplete, and incompetent testing is quite popular. I won't go into the reasons or supporting evidence for this disgraceful blight on the Software Development industry at this time. Suffice it to say, I don't want to be mixed in with that lot either, so I am happy to describe what I do as something different - something that is far more successful and rewarding when done well.
Okay, so if ET = [good] testing, what is testing then? According to Cem Kaner, "software testing is a technical investigation conducted to provide stakeholders with information about the quality of the product or service under test." This definition took me a while to absorb but the more I thought about it the more I found it to be a pretty good definition.
If you ask Elisabeth Hendrickson, she would say that "a test is an experiment designed to reveal information or answer a specific question about the software or system." See, now I really like this definition! I studied Science in university and I love the way this definition reminds me of the Scientific Method. The more I learn about testing software, the more I find similarities with doing good Science. (By the way, if you want to learn more about how to do good testing, I highly recommend you read up on the Scientific Method. So much goodness in there!)
So, is that all there is to it? Testing = Science, blah blah blah, and we're done? Um, well, no, not really. ET has its own Wikipedia page after all!
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Testing & Programming = Oil & Water
I was watching a science program just now and it occurred to me that Testing is very much science. And then I wondered about Programming.
I started in IT over 22 years ago doing programming. For me, the process of programming broke down to three parts: figuring out the algorithm to solve the problem, implementing/coding the solution, and cleaning up the code (for whatever reason - e.g. maintainability, usability of UI, etc.). It gets more complicated than that of course, but I think that about sums it up the major activities as I saw them. (SIDE NOTE: I didn't write those to mirror TDD's Red-Green-Refactor, but it does align nicely that way.)
When I think back on my experiences in programming, I don't see a lot of overlap with my experiences in Science (~ 8 years studying, researching and doing Physics & Environmental Science + teaching Science on top of that). Science is about answering questions. The Scientific Method provides a framework for asking and answering questions. Programming isn't about that. Building software isn't about that. I'm having difficulty at the moment trying to see how testing and programming go together.
It occurs to me that schools and universities don't have any courses that teach students how to build software. It also occurs to me that schools and universities provide students with the opportunities to learn and develop the skills required to build software well. The schools just don't know they're doing that and consequently the students don't get that opportunity intentionally.
I'm not talking about learning to program. That's trivial. Building software isn't about programming.
I started in IT over 22 years ago doing programming. For me, the process of programming broke down to three parts: figuring out the algorithm to solve the problem, implementing/coding the solution, and cleaning up the code (for whatever reason - e.g. maintainability, usability of UI, etc.). It gets more complicated than that of course, but I think that about sums it up the major activities as I saw them. (SIDE NOTE: I didn't write those to mirror TDD's Red-Green-Refactor, but it does align nicely that way.)
When I think back on my experiences in programming, I don't see a lot of overlap with my experiences in Science (~ 8 years studying, researching and doing Physics & Environmental Science + teaching Science on top of that). Science is about answering questions. The Scientific Method provides a framework for asking and answering questions. Programming isn't about that. Building software isn't about that. I'm having difficulty at the moment trying to see how testing and programming go together.
It occurs to me that schools and universities don't have any courses that teach students how to build software. It also occurs to me that schools and universities provide students with the opportunities to learn and develop the skills required to build software well. The schools just don't know they're doing that and consequently the students don't get that opportunity intentionally.
I'm not talking about learning to program. That's trivial. Building software isn't about programming.
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