天行健，君子以自强不息

软件产品的生命周期，我们经常说到Alpha测试，Beta测试（其实还有Gamma, Delta测试），软件发布的时候经常看到RC, RTM,这些究竟是如何界定的，发布阶段到底怎么划分的，我们今天就看看wiki的解释。

A software release is the distribution, whether public or private, of an initial or new and upgraded version of a computer software product. Each time a software program or system is changed, the software engineers and company doing the work decide on how to distribute the program or system, or changes to that program or system. Software patches are one method of distributing the changes, as are downloads and compact discs.
Software release stages

The software release life cycle is composed of different stages that describe the stability of a piece of software and the amount of development it requires before final release. Each major version of a product usually goes through a stage when new features are added, or the alpha stage; a stage when it is being actively debugged, or the beta stage; and finally a stage when all important bugs have been removed, or the stable stage. Intermediate stages may also be recognized. The stages may be formally announced and regulated by the project’s developers, but sometimes the terms are used informally to describe the state of a product. Conventionally, code names are often used by many companies for versions prior to the release of the product, though the actual product and features are rarely secret.
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自动化测试是近年在国内比较流行的概念，针对自动化测试对应的就是手工测试了，这两个概念之间的对照，从维基百科（wiki）转摘如下：

Test automation

Test automation is the use of software to control the execution of tests, the comparison of actual outcomes to predicted outcomes, the setting up of test preconditions, and other test control and test reporting functions. Commonly, test automation involves automating a manual process already in place that uses a formalized testing process. < ==这里说，测试自动化是对已经比较规范的的手工流程进行自动化的过程，言外之意就是如果你连手工的流程都还不规范，还是别自动化了。

Over the past few years, tools with graphical user interfaces (GUI) that help programmers quickly create applications have dramatically improved programmer productivity. This has increased the pressure on testers, who are often perceived as bottlenecks to the delivery of software products. Testers are being asked to test more and more code in less and less time. <==看来自动化测试工具也不全是好事，测试人员的压力越来越大了。Test automation is one way to do this, as manual testing is time consuming. As different versions of software are released, the new features will have to be tested manually time and again. But, now there are tools available that help the testers in the automation of the GUI which reduce the test time as well as the cost; other test automation tools support execution of performance tests.

Many test automation tools provide record and playback features that allow users to record interactively user actions and replay it back any number of times, comparing actual results to those expected. However, reliance on these features poses major reliability and maintainability problems. Most successful automators use a software engineering approach, and as such most serious test automation is undertaken by people with development experience. <==大多数成功的测试自动化案例都是把它作为一个软件工程来实施，并且大多数情况下测试自动化都是具有开发经验的人来担任的。

A growing trend in software development is to use testing frameworks such as the xUnit frameworks (for example, JUnit and NUnit) which allow the code to conduct unit tests to determine whether various sections of the code are acting as expected under various circumstances. <==看来测试自动化框架的确很流行。Test cases describe tests that need to be run on the program to verify that the program runs as expected. All three aspects of testing can be automated.
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这是经典的软件测试的两个概念，难怪有人说，软件测试的过程就是Verification和validation的过程。其中的verification我们就翻译为确认-对需求的确认。validation翻译为验证-验证最终的产品是我们期望的。下面看看wiki的定义吧。

Verification and Validation (software)

In software project management, software testing, and software engineering, Verification and Validation (V&V) is the process of checking that a software system meets specifications and that it fulfils its intended purpose. It is normally part of the software testing process of a project. In pharmaceutical industry, verification involves testing the suitability of well established procedures or (compendial) methods, whereas validation varies from Cross validation, Empirical validation, periodic partial validation, internal/external validation, competence validation by nature, and Cleaning validation, Process validation, Equipment validation, or Documentation validation by tasks.

Definitions
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黑盒和白盒只是一个相对的概念，严格意义上说，并并没有绝对的黑盒和白盒，而且现在也有了灰盒的概念。

看看wiki上对于黑盒白盒的定义吧。

Black box testing

Black box testing takes an external perspective of the test object to derive test cases. These tests can be functional or non-functional, though usually functional. The test designer selects valid and invalid input and determines the correct output. There is no knowledge of the test object’s internal structure.

This method of test design is applicable to all levels of software testing: unit, integration, functional testing, system and acceptance. The higher the level, and hence the bigger and more complex the box, the more one is forced to use black box testing to simplify. While this method can uncover unimplemented parts of the specification, one cannot be sure that all existent paths are tested.

Test design techniques

Typical black box test design techniques include:

* Equivalence partitioning
* Boundary value analysis
* Decision table testing
* Pairwise testing
* State transition tables
* Use case testing
* Cross-functional testing

[edit] Hardware

Functional testing devices like power supplies, amplifiers, and many other simple function electrical devices is common in the electronics industry. Automated functional testing of specified characteristics is used for production testing, and part of design validation.

White box testing

White box testing (a.k.a. clear box testing, glass box testing or structural testing) uses an internal perspective of the system to design test cases based on internal structure. It requires programming skills to identify all paths through the software. The tester chooses test case inputs to exercise paths through the code and determines the appropriate outputs. In electrical hardware testing, every node in a circuit may be probed and measured; an example is in-circuit testing (ICT).

Since the tests are based on the actual implementation, if the implementation changes, the tests probably will need to change, too. For example ICT needs updates if component values change, and needs modified/new fixture if the circuit changes. This adds financial resistance to the change process, thus buggy products may stay buggy. Automated optical inspection (AOI) offers similar component level correctness checking without the cost of ICT fixtures, however changes still require test updates.
Software Testing Portal

While white box testing is applicable at the unit, integration and system levels of the software testing process, it is typically applied to the unit. While it normally tests paths within a unit, it can also test paths between units during integration, and between subsystems during a system level test. Though this method of test design can uncover an overwhelming number of test cases, it might not detect unimplemented parts of the specification or missing requirements, but one can be sure that all paths through the test object are executed.

Typical white box test design techniques include:

* Control flow testing

* Data flow testing

For more information on Control flow testing and Data flow testing click on this link to download pdf.

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不知道最近几年软件测试在高校中是否有专门的专业或者课程，或者说细分到测试这么细的分支。但是毫无疑问的是，软件测试已经成为软件行业一个越来越重要的分支了，因为高校里面没有专门的专业，甚至可能没有专门的课程进行系统的学习，那么从事这个行业的广大测试同行这部分的基础知识可能就都是通过自学、培训机构得来了。软件测试跟软件开发一样，也是一门系统的科学，包括的范畴也很广泛：测试流程，测试管理，测试工具，测试方法等等。

我打算利用接下来的一段时间，从wiki（维基百科，国内绝大部分用户可能无法访问）转载一些软件测试基础相关的概念，跟大家分享，首先就从软件测试的基本定义和测试用例开始。

Software testing

Software testing is the process of exercising a software to verify that it satisfies its requirements and to detect errors. Software testing is an empirical technical investigation conducted to provide stakeholders with information about the quality of the product or service under test[1] , with respect to the context in which it is intended to operate. This includes, but is not limited to, the process of executing a program or application with the intent of finding software bugs. Quality is not an absolute; it is value to some person. With that in mind, testing can never completely establish the correctness of arbitrary computer software; testing furnishes a criticism or comparison that compares the state and behaviour of the product against a specification. An important point is that software testing should be distinguished from the separate discipline of Software Quality Assurance (S.Q.A.), which encompasses all business process areas, not just testing.[citation needed]

Over its existence, computer software has continued to grow in complexity and size. Every software product has a target audience. For example, a video game software has its audience completely different from banking software. Therefore, when an organization develops or otherwise invests in a software product, it presumably must assess whether the software product will be acceptable to its end users, its target audience, its purchasers, and other stakeholders. Software testing is the process of attempting to make this assessment.

A study conducted by NIST in 2002 reports that software bugs cost the U.S. economy $59.5 billion annually. More than a third of this cost could be avoided if better software testing was performed.[2]

Scope
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