Glossary of Terms beginning Alphabet-B
Back-To-Back Testing:
Back-To-Back Testing refers to the testing process in which two or more variants of a component or system are executed with the same inputs, the outputs compared, and analyzed in cases of discrepancies.
Backus-Naur Form:
Backus-Naur Form is a meta-language used to formally describe the syntax of a language.
Basic Block:
Basic Block is a sequence of one or more consecutive, executable statements containing no branches.
Basis Path Testing:
Basis Path Testing is a white box test case design technique
that uses the algorithmic flow of the program to design tests.
Basis Set:
Basis Set is the set of tests derived using Basis Path Testing. These are set of test cases derived from the internal structure or specification to ensure that 100% of a specified coverage criterion is achieved.
Baseline:
Baseline is a quantitative measure of the present / existing level of performance which has been formally reviewed or agreed upon, which thereafter serves as the basis for further development. It is the point at which some deliverable produced during the software engineering process is put under formal change control.
Baseline Document:
Baseline documents are the documents, which have been approved by the customer and will not have any more changes. Baseline Documents cover all the details of the project and have undergone “walkthrough” process. Once a document is Base-lined it cannot be changed unless there is a change request duly approved by the customer. Service Level Agreement (SLA) & Business Requirement Documents (BRD) are the examples of Baseline Documents.
Behavior:
Behavior refers to the response of a component or system to a set of input values and preconditions.
Benchmarking:
Benchmarking is a process of drawing comparison of products, services or processes against the known best / competitive practices. It is aimed at laying down the standards for the performance of a Product, Service or Support processes.
Benchmark Testing:
Benchmark Testing involves tests that use representative sets of programs and data designed to evaluate the performance of computer hardware and software in a given configuration.
Bespoke Software:
Bespoke Software refers to the software product developed specifically for a set of users or customers. It is an exact contrast of off-the-shelf software.
Best Practice:
Best Practice refers to a superior method or innovative practice that contributes to the improved performance of an organization under given context, usually recognized as �best� by other peer organizations.
Beta Testing:
Beta Testing comes after alpha testing. Versions of the software, known as beta versions, are released to a limited audience outside of the programming team. The software is released to groups of people so that further evaluation by the users can reveal more faults or bugs in the product. Sometimes, beta versions are made available to the open public to increase the feedback field to a maximal number of future users. Thus beta testing is done by end-users or others, & not by the programmers or testers.
Big-Bang Testing:
Big-Bang Testing refers to the type of integration testing in which software elements, hardware elements, or both are combined all at once into a component or an overall system, rather than in stages.
Binary Portability Testing:
Binary Portability Testing involves testing an executable application for portability across system platforms and environments, usually for conformation to an ABI specification.
Black-Box Testing:
Black-Box Testing Involves tests based upon specification requirements and functionality. For Black Box testing, the software tester need not have any knowledge of internal design of the software or its code being tested. Due to this reason, the tester and the programmer can be independent of each other, avoiding programmer bias toward his own work. During black box testing, the tester would only know the “legal” inputs and what the expected outputs should be, but he need not know as to how the program actually arrives at those outputs.
Black Box Test Design Techniques:
Black box test design technique refers to documented procedure to derive and select test cases based on an analysis of the specification, either functional or non-functional, of a component or system without reference to its internal structure.
Blocked Test Case:
Blocked Test Case refers to the test case, which cannot be executed because the preconditions for its execution are not fulfilled.
Bottom Up Testing:
Bottom Up Testing is an approach to integration testing where the lowest level components are tested first, then used to facilitate the testing of higher level components. The process is repeated until the component at the top of the hierarchy is tested.
Boundary Testing:
Boundary Testing involves test which focus on the boundary or limit conditions of the software being tested. (Some of these tests are stress tests).
Boundary Value:
Boundary Value is an input or output value which is on the edge of an equivalence partition or at the smallest incremental distance on either side of an edge, for example the minimum or maximum value of a range.
Boundary Value Analysis:
Boundary Value Analysis is a data selection technique in which test data is selected from the “boundaries” of the input or output domain classes, data structures and procedure parameters. Selection mainly include the actual minimum and maximum boundary values, with a tolerance of (+ 1 or – 1) on the maximum and the minimum values. Boundary Value Analysis or BVA is similar to Equivalence Partitioning but focuses on “corner cases”.
Boundary Value Coverage:
Boundary Value Coverage is the percentage of boundary values, which have been exercised by a test suite.
Branch:
Branch refers to a basic block which can be selected for execution based on a program construct in which one of two or more alternative program paths are available, e.g. case, jump, go to, if then – else.
Branch Testing or Branch Analysis:
Branch Testing is a white box test method in which it is essential to execute the test of each possible branch on each decision at least once.
Branch Coverage:
Branch Coverage is an outcome of a decision, and measures the number of decision outcomes or branches which have been tested. This takes a more in-depth view of the source code rather than a simple “Statement Coverage”. A branch is an outcome of a decision. For example Boolean decisions like an “If – Statement”, has two outcomes or branches (i.e. True and False).
Brainstorming:
Brainstorming is an idea generating technique which uses the thinking capacity of a group of people. It is a technique for soliciting a quantity of ideas quickly in a non critical work environment. It encourages teamwork & creativity.
Breadth Testing:
Breadth Testing refers to a test suite that exercises the full functionality of a product but does not test features in detail.
Bug:
Bug refers to a fault or defect in software program which causes the program to perform in an unintended or unanticipated manner. There are two types of bugs 1) Code Error related bugs and 2) Design Error related bugs.
Bug Priority:
Bug Priority refers to the need as to how urgently bug is needed to be fixed. It describes the importance of the bug. Bug priority may change according to the schedule of testing.
Bug Severity:
Bug Severity refers to the quantum of danger as to how badly the bug can harm the system. It describes as to how bad the bug is. Severity is a feature of constant nature associated with the bug.
Build Verification Testing or BVT:
Build Verification Testing, also known as Build Acceptance Test, is a set of tests run on each new build of a product to verify that the build is testable before the build is released into the hands of the test team. The build acceptance test is generally a short set of tests, which exercises the mainstream functionality of the application software. Any build that fails the build verification test is rejected, and testing continues on the previous build (provided there has been at least one build that has passed the acceptance test). BVT is important because it lets developers know right away if there is a serious problem with the build, and they save the test team wasted time and frustration by avoiding test of an unstable build.
Business Process-Based Testing:
Business Process-Based Testing is an approach to testing in which test cases are designed based on descriptions or knowledge of the business processes.
Explanation to All Alphabets in the Glossary of Terms
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