Error guessing

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In software testing, error guessing is a test method in which test cases used to find bugs in programs are established based on experience in prior testing. [1] The scope of test cases usually rely on the software tester involved, who uses experience and intuition to determine what situations commonly cause software failure, or may cause errors to appear. [2] Typical errors include divide by zero, null pointers, or invalid parameters. [3]

Error guessing has no explicit rules for testing; test cases can be designed depending on the situation, either drawing from functional documents or when an unexpected/undocumented error is found while testing operations. [1]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guessing</span> Swift conclusion drawn from data directly at hand

A guess is a swift conclusion drawn from data directly at hand, and held as probable or tentative, while the person making the guess admittedly lacks material for a greater degree of certainty. A guess is also an unstable answer, as it is "always putative, fallible, open to further revision and interpretation, and validated against the horizon of possible meanings by showing that one interpretation is more probable than another in light of what we already know". In many of its uses, "the meaning of guessing is assumed as implicitly understood", and the term is therefore often used without being meticulously defined. Guessing may combine elements of deduction, induction, abduction, and the purely random selection of one choice from a set of given options. Guessing may also involve the intuition of the guesser, who may have a "gut feeling" about which answer is correct without necessarily being able to articulate a reason for having this feeling.

ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119Software and systems engineering -- Software testing is a series of five international standards for software testing. First developed in 2007 and released in 2013, the standard "defines vocabulary, processes, documentation, techniques, and a process assessment model for testing that can be used within any software development lifecycle."

References

  1. 1 2 Bernard Homès, Fundamentals of Software Testing (2013), sec. 4.5.3.
  2. R.G. Evans, Supercomputational Science (2012), p. 39.
  3. Mosley, Daniel J.; Posey, Bruce A. (2002). Just Enough Software Test Automation. Prentice Hall Professional. ISBN   978-0-13-008468-2.