Part 2 – Functional Testing
Once you have gathered detailed information about the new feature from exploratory testing, feature specifications, and test plan reviews, testing can begin in earnest. The first tests to write and perform are those assuming no knowledge of the system – black-box testing – in which the tester naively attempts to use the feature like a new user. That is followed by white-box testing, which is informed by knowledge of the underlying code to ensure that all code paths have been checked.
As well as the working cases, testing always needs to consider the error cases, invalid inputs, and internal failures, followed by user experience testing. Even though a feature may work, it may be difficult for users to learn or use. It’s a tester’s job to highlight those weaknesses, which have a different set of considerations. The feature must be tested for security weaknesses, and you need to check the logs and event metrics. With all that testing complete you can be confident of a secure, easy-to-use, and robust feature, but there are still loading and system failures to consider, which are covered in Part 3, Non-Functional Testing.
This part comprises the following chapters: