Input Space Partitioning: Coverage Criteria

Summary

This video explores combinatorial software testing, focusing on coverage criteria like pairwise, base choice, and T-wise testing. It explains how these criteria help ensure comprehensive test case combinations, with an emphasis on base choices and their relationship to other coverage methods. The speaker highlights the importance of generating tests that meet these criteria and promises practical examples to guide the creation of effective test cases. The content is geared towards helping testers understand the nuances of various coverage methods and apply them in real-world scenarios.

Takeaways

• 😀 Coverage criteria are defined in terms of combinations and subsets of test conditions.
• 😀 T-based coverage ensures all combinations are covered by selecting different test conditions.
• 😀 Base choice coverage allows for test conditions to be chosen in specific ways, ensuring full coverage.
• 😀 Pairwise coverage ensures that all pairs of conditions are tested, but does not relate to base choice coverage.
• 😀 Subset coverage guarantees all required test combinations are covered through the selection of base choices.
• 😀 Multiple base choices can generate various test combinations, and coverage is guaranteed by including all possibilities.
• 😀 The definition of coverage includes ensuring that all combinations are tested, making the test suite comprehensive.
• 😀 Coverage is achieved by ensuring that every possible condition or combination is part of the test cases.
• 😀 The speaker plans to demonstrate how different coverage criteria work using practical examples, like the triangle type example.
• 😀 Tests should be structured to ensure they meet the required coverage criteria, with each type of coverage ensuring full testing of conditions.

Q & A

What is T-wise coverage in software testing?

T-wise coverage refers to testing combinations of T inputs at a time, ensuring all possible combinations of T elements are covered. This helps identify issues that might only arise with specific input combinations.

How does T-wise coverage help in testing?

T-wise coverage ensures that all potential pairings or combinations of input values are tested, which helps uncover edge cases or interactions between inputs that might not be found with isolated testing.

What is base choice coverage?

Base choice coverage is a method that ensures every base (or parameter) in a system is tested with at least one choice. This approach verifies that all base configurations are covered in testing.

What distinction is made between single base and multiple base choices?

The text distinguishes between cases where a base has only one choice (single base choice) versus multiple choices (multiple base choice). The goal is to test all possible selections of each base to ensure comprehensive coverage.

How are multiple base choices handled in testing?

In testing, multiple base choices are handled by creating test cases that cover every possible combination of base choices, ensuring that all configurations are tested thoroughly.

What does it mean when the speaker says that 'all combinations coverage' ensures thorough testing?

This means that by testing every possible combination of inputs, the test suite covers all potential interactions between parameters, ensuring that no combinations are overlooked and increasing the likelihood of detecting hidden issues.

What does the speaker imply by saying that the test cases 'cover all combinations'?

The speaker implies that the testing approach ensures every possible combination of input values is included in the test cases. This is essential for exhaustive testing, particularly when dealing with complex systems with multiple parameters.

What role does combinatorial testing play in the coverage criteria?

Combinatorial testing is central to the coverage criteria because it systematically tests combinations of input values to ensure that all possible interactions between parameters are explored, reducing the risk of undetected issues.

What is meant by the 'partitioning' of a base in the context of base choice coverage?

Partitioning a base refers to dividing the base into distinct categories or groups, each of which is tested separately to ensure that all possible variations of the base are covered.

How does the speaker plan to demonstrate the application of coverage criteria?

The speaker plans to use triangle-type examples to demonstrate how each coverage criterion works in practice. They will show how to write test cases that fulfill the requirements of these coverage criteria.