Software Testing Explained: How QA is Done Today
Summary
TLDRThe video explores the evolution of software testing, beginning with the Y2K problem and its global impact. It discusses the shift from outdated software development methods, like waterfall, to agile practices. Agile principles emphasize collaboration, quick feedback, and adaptability. The video also covers different testing methods, such as functional, black box, white box, and automated testing. While continuous testing is crucial in modern software development, the video highlights the role of automation and poses questions about the future of software testing and its potential for full automation.
Takeaways
- ⚠️ The Y2K problem stemmed from software recording only the last two digits of the year, causing fears of potential catastrophic failures in 2000.
- 👩💻 To prevent disaster, millions were spent on programmers to fix the Y2K issue, but in reality, it caused minimal disruption, even in countries that ignored it.
- 🚀 Software testing's origins date back to NASA's Project Mercury in the 1950s, where it was prioritized to ensure the success of critical missions.
- 🧑🔧 Historically, testing was not a major focus in software development until increased software complexity highlighted the need for quality control.
- 🖥️ The 1960s saw the rise of complex software development with IBM’s System/360, which required massive engineering efforts and highlighted the limitations of early programming practices.
- ⚙️ The 2001 Agile Manifesto revolutionized software development by promoting shorter cycles, collaboration, and flexible responses to change, influencing modern QA practices.
- 📝 Agile testing incorporates planning, writing test cases, and documenting capabilities, shifting testing from an afterthought to an integrated part of the development process.
- 🔍 Black box testing allows testers to assess software functionality without knowing the code, whereas white box testing evaluates the internal workings of the code itself.
- 🤖 Automated testing, especially vital for regression testing, allows for repeated, efficient testing but requires skilled testers to write scripts, making it a valuable but selective tool.
- ⏳ Emerging long-term challenges like the Y10K bug underscore the importance of software testing in ensuring future-proof technology, particularly as continuous testing evolves in DevOps.
Q & A
What was the Y2K problem and why was it significant?
-The Y2K problem, also known as the Year 2000 bug, was a software issue where systems recorded only the last two digits of the year. This caused concern as the transition from 1999 to 2000 could result in unpredictable outcomes like system crashes or miscalculations. It was significant because it could have impacted critical systems worldwide, such as nuclear stations and financial transactions.
How did the Y2K problem influence software development and testing?
-The Y2K problem increased awareness of the importance of software testing and quality assurance. It led to a massive global effort to update and fix legacy software systems, and it helped establish testing as a critical component of software development.
What role did Gerry Weinberg and his team play in the evolution of software testing?
-Gerry Weinberg led software operations for NASA's Project Mercury and formed one of the first professional testing groups. His team set early standards for software testing, establishing that rigorous testing was essential for mission-critical projects like space exploration.
Why did software quality decline during the rapid expansion of the tech industry in the 1960s?
-During the 1960s, companies like IBM introduced complex systems like System/360, which required large teams to develop. The limited pool of qualified programmers and the rapid demand for software led to the hiring of less experienced engineers, resulting in low-quality, bug-ridden software.
What is the Agile methodology, and how did it change software testing?
-The Agile methodology emerged as a response to the rigid, linear Waterfall model of development. Agile encourages collaboration, short development cycles, and flexibility, allowing testing and development to occur simultaneously. This approach improved the speed and efficiency of software testing by making it an integral part of the development process.
What are the core elements of a test plan according to James Whittaker's 'ten-minute test plan' method?
-James Whittaker's 'ten-minute test plan' includes three core elements: attributes (what the testing is supposed to check), components (the pieces of code or features being tested), and capabilities (what a user should be able to do with the software). This simplified approach helps create quick, focused test plans.
What are black box and white box testing, and how do they differ?
-Black box testing evaluates the functionality of software without knowing the internal workings of the system, focusing on inputs and expected outputs. White box testing, on the other hand, examines the code itself, testing its structure and security. It requires deeper knowledge of the system and is often performed by programmers or technical testers.
What is regression testing, and why is automation useful for it?
-Regression testing checks if new changes or updates to software affect existing functionality. Automated testing is useful for regression testing because it can run repetitive tests quickly and efficiently, ensuring that new updates don’t introduce new bugs without requiring manual labor.
What challenges do teams face when implementing test automation?
-One of the main challenges with test automation is the need for highly skilled testers to write test scripts. Not all tests can be automated, and teams must carefully decide which tests are worth automating to balance efficiency with accuracy.
What is the Y10K problem, and how does it compare to the Y2K issue?
-The Y10K problem refers to software limitations in recognizing dates beyond the year 9999. It poses challenges for long-term calculations, similar to the Y2K issue, though it is not yet an urgent concern. Like Y2K, it highlights the need for forward-thinking in software design.
Outlines
🚨 The Y2K Problem: A Global Digital Apocalypse Averted
The year 2000, commonly known as Y2K, posed a significant threat due to a software glitch where systems only recorded the last two digits of the date. This could have resulted in severe disruptions, such as planes crashing, life-support failures, and prison malfunctions. The issue sparked mass hysteria with cults predicting the end of the world and marketers selling survival kits. Fortunately, programmers managed to fix the bug in time. Despite minimal actual damage, the global response to Y2K led to a heightened awareness and importance of software testing, setting the stage for future advancements in quality assurance.
🔄 The Rise of Agile and the Evolution of Software Testing
In the early days of software development, testing wasn't a priority. However, NASA's Project Mercury in the late 1950s set a standard for professional testing. Over time, software development scaled rapidly, leading to low-quality, bug-ridden software, as seen in the Y2K crisis. The shift from traditional waterfall methods to agile practices in 2001 changed the landscape of testing. Agile’s principles emphasize flexibility, shorter development cycles, and closer collaboration between engineers and testers. Testing became integrated into the development process, with feedback loops becoming instant, ensuring faster bug fixes and higher-quality software.
⚡️ Agile Testing and Modern Software Development Practices
Agile software development introduced a more dynamic approach to testing. Traditional detailed test plans were replaced by simplified, effective strategies like James Whittaker’s ten-minute test plan, which focused on core elements such as testing objectives and product capabilities. Test cases describe specific tasks to ensure software functionality, with black-box testing used for user-facing features and white-box testing for internal code. Ad hoc testing, done without formal test cases, provides human intuition-driven insights. Automation testing also became crucial, particularly in regression testing, where scripts test software after updates. This shift streamlined testing, saving time and enhancing product quality.
⏳ Automation and Long-Term Thinking in Testing: Lessons from the Y10K Bug
Automation testing is now a vital part of agile development, providing scalability and efficiency in testing large, complex systems. Machines handle repetitive tasks, freeing human testers for more analytical work. However, challenges remain, like ensuring the long-term accuracy of systems, illustrated by the Y10K bug that could arise in future systems. As exemplified by Jeff Bezos’ 10,000-year clock project, long-term thinking is becoming essential in software testing. Continuous delivery practices, reliant on test automation, support this future-oriented approach, allowing software to evolve efficiently and sustainably over time. The goal is progress, not perfection, in testing's evolving role.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Y2K problem
💡Waterfall method
💡Agile manifesto
💡Blackbox testing
💡Whitebox testing
💡Test automation
💡Continuous delivery
💡Quality Assurance (QA)
💡Regression testing
💡Ad hoc testing
Highlights
The Y2K problem threatened global systems, causing widespread fear of apocalyptic events.
In the 1980s, engineers discovered that software recorded only the last two digits of the date, leading to the Y2K issue.
The engineering effort invested in resolving Y2K popularized software testing.
NASA's Project Mercury in 1958 marked the first serious approach to software testing, led by Gerry Weinberg.
The industry's rapid growth in the 1960s led to low-quality, bug-filled software, contributing to the Y2K crisis.
The IBM System/360 was a groundbreaking but costly modular mainframe that became notorious for its long development time.
Fred Brooks, the architect of System/360, predicted there would be no 'silver bullet' for software productivity improvements.
Agile software development, introduced in 2001, aimed to solve inefficiencies in the traditional 'waterfall' method.
Agile methodology emphasizes collaboration, shorter cycles, and flexibility, changing the role of testers to work closely with engineers.
James Whittaker introduced the 'ten-minute test plan' method, simplifying test documentation at companies like Google and Microsoft.
Functional testing, or black-box testing, can be done without deep knowledge of the system's inner workings.
White-box testing involves examining the internal structure of software and is usually done by engineers familiar with the code.
Automated testing, once underutilized, has become integral to Agile's iterative processes, particularly for regression testing.
The rise of continuous delivery in Agile practices depends heavily on automated testing for rapid software updates.
The Y10K bug, a future issue like Y2K, could affect long-term software calculations, as seen with the 10,000-year clock project.
Transcripts
[Applause]
on January 1st of mm the world almost
ended well it did in some places a
nuclear station in Japan sounded an
alarm the Pentagon satellites stopped
processing information and all over the
world people became 100 years older
digitally at least sometime in the 80s
computer engineers discovered that
software had a drawback it recorded only
the last two digits of the date so the
transition from 1999 to 2000 wouldn't
make sense to it the outcome could be
unpredictable from planes falling from
the skies to life-support systems
failing to prisons releasing criminals
the apocalyptic event was called the
year 2000 or y2k problem as cult leaders
were preaching about the world's end
marketers were promoting survival kits
and ordinary people were building
bunkers millions of dollars were spent
on programmers hoping they could fix the
issue and they did most of us didn't
notice any chaos those countries that
decided to ignore the issue didn't
suffer any significant damage either but
all the engineering effort used for y2k
wasn't for nothing the bug had one big
benefit software testing became very
popular software testing basics how QA
is done today
[Music]
to understand how we arrived where we
are today let's travel a few decades
back historically testing hadn't been a
priority probably the only place where
was taken seriously in the old days was
NASA Project Mercury in 1958 signified
the beginning of the space race in its 5
years of existence Mercury launched
America's first satellite and sent Alan
Shepard into space Gerry Weinberg was
leading software operations for the
project and didn't have the typical
attitude to testing in a sense he was
way ahead of his time so we formed as
far as I know that the first real
professional testing group and existed
up to that time programmers were
expected well first of all they were
expected to write programs that didn't
have flaws on them Gerry's testing crew
set the standard an industry caught up
but not in the way it was intended and
so that was picked up by lots and lots
of managers all over the world and it
made it hire people who they didn't feel
were qualified to be programmers they
can hire missed testers in the words of
a computer science pioneer Edsger
Dijkstra the industry scale too quickly
at the dawn of software development back
in the 40s and 50s software was built by
those who would end up using it and on
the machines that would run the program
but that was before engineering was
commercialized in the 1960s IBM
introduced system/360 a legendary
mainframe computer built specifically to
be modular and compatible with any task
the cost and time it took to build or
just as legendary around a thousand
employees worked on the system for 10
years and the initial budget of 25
million dollars was raised to 5 billion
programs took ages to build companies
hired excessive numbers of Engineers to
speed up development but the pool of
qualified programmers was limited and
soon they ended up with low-quality
bug-infested software this was also the
reason why 2k happened in the first
place people were still using legacy
software developed decades ago by people
were unconcerned about the distant
future solving the crisis was on the
minds of developers and researchers
until the 90s in his famous article no
silver bullet IBM system/360 architect
Fred Brooks lamented how the growing
complexity of computer hardware was
disproportionate to engineering
practices not only are there no silver
bullets now in view the very nature of
software makes it unlikely that there
will be any no inventions that will do
for software productivity reliability
and simplicity with electronics
transistors and large scale integration
did for computer hardware we cannot
expect ever to see twofold gains every
two years it was like software
development had nowhere to grow turns
out he was wrong in 2001 seventeen
software development leaders created the
manifesto for agile software development
this new approach was a direct response
to the traditional method known as
waterfall that migrated from the old
manufacturing practices and waterfall
you work in stages that strictly follow
one another which is intuitive but risky
if or more correctly when a tester finds
a bug in the code design or even product
requirements the project has to start
all over again this also means that the
engineering and testing teams don't work
closely together agile is 12 principles
all come down to a few core ideas
embrace change stick to the shorter
cycle and collaborate more yes open
space offices likely became a trend due
to agile recommendations testers are now
the required members of the engineering
team who maintain the product quality
from the very start
now feedback exchanges instant and bug
fixes happen at the time of coding also
automated tests are way more widespread
testing became more than a routine task
of sorting through the code a new
process deserved the title of Quality
Assurance which also covers planning
monitoring and control here's how agile
teams are doing software testing today
planning is something considered anti
agile here's an approximate list of
things that should be recorded in a test
plan a document dictating the testing
strategy for the product but agile test
leaders are looking into simpler
alternatives and test plans were one of
the things that were really annoying me
about about Google they annoyed me at
Microsoft who they've annoyed me they've
always annoyed me this is James
Whittaker former engineering director at
Google and Microsoft and author of how
Google tests software he came up with a
hugely popular technique for writing
test documentation called the ten minute
test plan
James defined three core elements that a
test plan needs first are the attributes
these are the adjectives describing the
main purpose of testing what is testing
supposed to check then the components
what are we testing these are the nouns
describing pieces of code or features
finally we document capabilities here
you use verbs to explain what a user
should be able to do then we never built
a test plan in ten minutes but we did do
we did discover the things that are
absolutely important in a test plan and
we threw away the rest even the
minimalistic version of a test plan will
be enough to start a second stage which
is writing test cases and test scripts a
test case is a detailed description of
the task that would allow you to perform
the test and then determine if the
program passed or failed say your task
is to check what happens when a logged
user tries to book a hotel room the test
case will have information about the
steps you'll need to take conditions
that must be followed before you do the
test and the expected outcome this would
actually be an example of functional
testing a type of test performed when we
want to check how the software works in
terms of features there are a few types
of tests to know about functional
testing usually has an input what to do
and an output what we should expect this
testing can be done even by people who
have minimal knowledge about how the
system works from the inside which is
why it's also called blackbox testing
what else could you test using a black
box approach usability for example you
don't have to read code to understand if
the system is easy to use there's also
use case testing when you have to check
if the software will be
used as intended this would verify the
work of UX designers blackbox testing
will also be enough to check the system
stability and performance basically the
conditions under which it would or
wouldn't crash but often you need to
test the quality of the code itself and
its security how its smallest parts work
and how these parts work together this
is called white box testing and it's
either done by programmers who develop
this particular software or test
engineers who know how to code not all
tests need written cases sometimes tests
are done sporadically to save time or
simply to see what will happen if we
improvise this is called ad hoc testing
like a fire drill obviously this should
be done by a human tester because the
machine can't improvise like a human but
what can a machine do the hits and
misses of automated testing before the
agile manifesto emerged test automation
was a badly underused technique but it
makes perfect sense in the logic of
continuous iterative improvement you
write a test script once and run it
simultaneously on as many devices or
browsers as you want as many times as
you want and for as long as you can
leave your computer on here's an example
of an automated test checking system
response to invalid logins
and here are the reports it made using
it however can be challenging only
highly skilled testers can write test
scripts so project managers have to be
smart when distributing testing efforts
while a machine can't be trusted with
all tests in some situations it's a real
lifesaver in regression testing for
example regression testing aims to check
how the system works after changes it's
ineffective and totally unfair to make
people perform dozens of the same tests
every time you want to ship an update
automation testing is also one of the
pillars of continuous delivery the new
stage in the evolution of agile devops
practices are also dependent on
continuous testing embracing the long
term thinking there's a monumental
mechanical clock being built in the
Sandy habló mountain range of West Texas
right now sponsored by Jeff Bezos and
designed by American inventor danny
hills the so called 10,000 year clock
will chime every thousand years as a
symbol of long-term thinking and
optimism while making calculations for
the clock the design team was met with
some software limitations Microsoft
Excel didn't recognize the five digit
number as the date among computer
scientists the problem is called the Y
10k bug it's been an issue for many long
term analyses like the ones concerning
nuclear waste if people living in the
deck of millennium will still be using
Windows 10 this may cause a great
problem but most likely people won't
have to worry about that test automation
is the fastest growing area in QA today
and a long term investment for a
software project if we managed to
replace most routine testing tasks with
machines we can allocate more resources
to making software more user-friendly or
accessible or simply satisfying we can
also ensure quality in earlier stages
and go beyond classic QA towards more
analytical approaches like quality
engineering if there's anything we know
about testing is that the progress
matters not perfection what shape will
software testing take in the coming
years is complete automation even
possible let us know your thoughts in
the comments below
[Music]
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