How is it useful to make the distinction between testing and checking? One colleague (let’s call him Andrew) recently found it very useful indeed. I’ve been asked not to reveal his real name or his company, but he has very generously permitted me to tell this story. He works for a large, globally distributed company, which produces goods and services in a sector not always known for its nimbleness. He’s … Read more
An article from a while back on StickyMinds entitled How To Choose Between Scripted and Exploratory Testing refers to a bunch of factors in making choices between scripted testing and exploratory testing. The problems start early: “As a test manager or engineer, you may be considering whether or not to use exploratory testing on your next project.” If you’re not planning on investigating any problems that you find, I suppose … Read more
Not too long ago, I posted a list of stopping heuristics for testing. As usual, such lists are always subjective, subject to refinement and revision, and under scrutiny from colleagues and other readers. As usual, James Bach is a harsh critic (and that’s a compliment, not a complaint). We’re still transpecting over some of the points; eventually we’ll come out with something on which we agree. Joe Harter, in his … Read more
After a presentation on exploratory approaches and on testing vs. checking yesterday, a correspondent and old friend writes: Although the presentation made good arguments for exploratory testing, I am not sure a small QA department can spare the resources unless a majority of regression checking can be moved to automation. Particularly in situations with short QA cycles. (Notice that he and I are using “testing” and “checking” in this specific … Read more
This is a letter that I would not show to a programmer in a real-life situation. I’ve often thought of bits of it at a time, and those bits come up in conversation occasionally, but not all at once. This is based on an observation of the chat window in Skype 4.0.0.226. Dear Programmer, I discovered a bug today. I’ll tell you how I found it. It’s pretty easy to … Read more
In the first post in this series, I proposed “that those things that we usually call ‘unit tests‘ be called ‘unit checks‘.” I stand by the proposal, but I should clarify something important about it. See, it’s all a matter of timing. And, of course, sapience. After James Bach‘s blog post titled “Sapience and Blowing Peoples’ Minds“, Joe Rainsberger commented: Sadly, the distinction between testing and checking makes describing test-driven … Read more
In a previous comment, Sunjeet asks Does not testing encompass checking? Can testing alone be efficient without doing any checking? As I hope I made it clear in Elements of Testing and Checking, the development and analysis of checks is surrounded by plenty of testing activity, and testing may include a good deal of checking. Testing, I think, can be vastly more efficient if we consider the ways in which … Read more
The word “criticism” has several meanings and connotations. To criticize, these days, often means to speak reproachfully of someone or something, but criticism isn’t always disparaging. Way, way back when, I studied English literature, and read the work of many critics. Literary critics and film critics aren’t people who merely criticize, as we use the word in common parlance. Instead, the role of the critic is to contextualize—to observe and … Read more
In the course of trying to describe distinctions between testing and checking, a number of questions have come up: Do you want to change the language? Won’t saying “check” be confusing? Won’t this undermine our goal of industry-standard terminology? Won’t calling certain kinds of tests “checks” fly in the face of years of documentation and books? Isn’t this yet another case of you wanting testing to be done the same … Read more
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been very gratified by the response to the testing-vs.-checking distinction. Thanks to all who have grabbed on to the idea and to those who have questioned it. There’s a wonderful passage in Chapter 4 of Jerry Weinberg‘s Perfect Software and Other Illusions About Testing in which he breaks down the activities of a programmer engaged in testing activities—testing for discovery, discovering an unexpected … Read more