CSCD306-DCIT208: SOFTWARE

ENGINEERING
Mark Atta Mensah | Department of Computer Science | 2020-
2021
 Session 4
Design and implementation | Software testing

Reference: Sommerville, Software Engineering, 10 ed., Chapters 7 & 8

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 2
 The big picture
• Software design and implementation is the stage in
the software engineering process at which an
executable software system is developed.
• Software design is a creative activity in which you
identify software components and their
relationships, based on a customer's requirements.
• Implementation is the process of realizing the
design as a program. These two activities are
invariably inter-leaved.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 3
 The big picture
In a wide range of domains, it is now possible to
buy commercial off-the-shelf systems (COTS)
that can be adapted and tailored to the users'
requirements.
When you develop an application in this way, the
design process becomes concerned with how to
use the configuration features of that system to
deliver the system requirements.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 4
 Object-oriented design using the UML
•Structured object-oriented design processes
involve developing a number of different
system models. They require a lot of effort
for development and maintenance and, for
small systems, this may not be cost-effective.
•However, for large systems developed by
different groups design models are an
important communication mechanism.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 5
 Object-oriented design using the UML
Common activities in these processes
include:
• Define the context and modes of use of the
system;
• Design the system architecture;
• Identify the principal system objects;
• Develop design models;
• Specify object interfaces.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 6
 System context and interactions
• Understanding the relationships between the software
that is being designed and its external environment is
essential for deciding how to provide the required
system functionality and how to structure the system to
communicate with its environment.
• Understanding of the context also lets you establish the
boundaries of the system. Setting the system
boundaries helps you decide what features are
implemented in the system being designed and what
features are in other associated systems.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 7
 System context and interactions
An interaction model is a dynamic model (e.g., a
use case diagram + structured natural language
description) that shows how the system interacts
with its environment as it is used.

A system context is a structural model

(e.g., a class diagram) that demonstrates
the other systems in the environment of
the system being developed.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 8
 System context and interactions
System Weather station
Use case Report weather
Actors Weather information system, Weather station

The weather station sends a summary of the weather data that has been
collected from the instruments in the collection period to the weather
information system. The data sent are the maximum, minimum, and average
Description ground and air temperatures; the maximum, minimum, and average air
pressures; the maximum, minimum, and average wind speeds; the total rainfall;
and the wind direction as sampled at five-minute intervals.

The weather information system establishes a satellite communication link with

Stimulus the weather station and requests transmission of the data.

Response The summarized data is sent to the weather information system.

Weather stations are usually asked to report once per hour but this frequency
Comments may differ from one station to another and may be modified in the future.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 9
 Architectural design
Once interactions between the system and its environment have been
understood, you use this information for designing the system
architecture. You identify the major components that make up the
system and their interactions, and then may organize the components
using an architectural pattern (e.g. a layered or client-server model).

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 10
 Architectural design
Identifying object classes is often a difficult part of object
oriented design. There is no 'magic formula' for object
identification. It relies on the skill, experience
and domain knowledge of system designers. Object
identification is an iterative process. You are unlikely to get it
right first time.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 11
 Architectural design
Approaches to object identification include:
• Use a grammatical approach based on a natural
language description of the system.
• Base the identification on tangible things in the
application domain.
• Use a behavioral approach and identify objects based on
what participates in what behavior.
• Use a scenario-based analysis. The objects, attributes
and methods in each scenario are identified.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 12
 Design models
Design models show the objects and object classes
and relationships between these entities.
Static models describe the static structure of the
system in terms of object classes and relationships.
Dynamic models describe the dynamic interactions
between objects.
Subsystem models show logical groupings of objects
into coherent subsystems. These are represented
using a form of class diagram with each subsystem
shown as a package with enclosed objects.
Subsystem models are static (structural) models.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 13
 Design models

Sequence models show

the sequence of object
interactions. These are
represented using a
UML sequence or a
collaboration diagram.
Sequence models are
dynamic models.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 14
 Design models
State machine models
show how individual
objects change their state
in response to events.
These are represented in
the UML using state
diagrams. State machine
models are dynamic
models. State diagrams
are useful high-level
models of a system or an
object's run-time behavior.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 15
 Interface specification
Object interfaces have to be specified so that the objects
and other components can be designed in parallel.
Designers should avoid designing the interface
representation but should hide this in the object itself.
Objects may have several interfaces which are viewpoints
on the methods provided. The UML uses class diagrams for
interface specification but Java may also be used.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 16
 Design patterns
A design pattern is a way of reusing abstract
knowledge about a problem and its solution. A
pattern is a description of the problem and the
essence of its solution. It should be sufficiently
abstract to be reused in different settings.
Pattern descriptions usually make use of object-
oriented characteristics such as inheritance and
polymorphism.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 17
 Design patterns
Design pattern elements:
•Name - A meaningful pattern identifier
•Problem description - A common situation
where this pattern is applicable
•Solution description - Not a concrete design
but a template for a design solution that can be
instantiated in different ways
•Consequences - The results and trade-offs of
applying the pattern
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 18
 Design patterns:(Example: the Observer pattern)
Pattern name Observer
Separates the display of the state of an object from the object itself and allows
Description alternative displays to be provided. When the object state changes, all displays are
automatically notified and updated to reflect the change.
In many situations, you have to provide multiple displays of state information, such
as a graphical display and a tabular display. Not all of these may be known when the
information is specified. All alternative presentations should support interaction and,
Problem
when the state is changed, all displays must be updated.
description This pattern may be used in all situations where more than one display format for
state information is required and where it is not necessary for the object that
maintains the state information to know about the specific display formats used.
This involves two abstract objects, Subject and Observer, and two concrete objects,
ConcreteSubject and ConcreteObject, which inherit the attributes of the related
abstract objects. The abstract objects include general operations that are applicable
in all situations. The state to be displayed is maintained in ConcreteSubject, which
inherits operations from Subject allowing it to add and remove Observers (each
Solution
observer corresponds to a display) and to issue a notification when the state has
description changed.
The ConcreteObserver maintains a copy of the state of ConcreteSubject and
implements the Update() interface of Observer that allows these copies to be kept in
step. The ConcreteObserver automatically displays the state and reflects changes
whenever the state is updated.
The subject only knows the abstract Observer and does not know details of the
concrete class. Therefore there is minimal coupling between these objects. Because
Consequences of this lack of knowledge, optimizations that enhance display performance are
impractical. Changes to the subject may cause a set of linked updates to observers
to be generated, some of which may not be necessary.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 19
 Reuse
From the 1960s to the 1990s, most new software was
developed from scratch, by writing all code in a high-level
programming language. The only significant reuse or software
was the reuse of functions and objects in programming
language libraries. Costs and schedule pressure mean that this
approach became increasingly unviable, especially for
commercial and Internet-based systems. An approach to
development based around the reuse of existing software
emerged and is now generally used for business and scientific
software.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 20
 Reuse: Levels
• The abstraction level: don't reuse software directly but
use knowledge of successful abstractions in the
software design.
• The object level: directly reuse objects from a library
rather than writing the code yourself.
• The component level: components (collections of
objects and object classes) are reused in application
systems.
• The system level: entire application systems are
reused.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 21
 Reuse: Costs
• The costs of the time spent in looking for software to reuse
and assessing whether or not it meets your needs.
• Where applicable, the costs of buying the reusable software.
For large off-the-shelf systems, these costs can be very high.
• The costs of adapting and configuring the reusable software
components or systems to reflect the requirements of the
system that you are developing.
• The costs of integrating reusable software elements with each
other (if you are using software from different sources) and with
the new code that you have developed.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 22
 Configuration management
Configuration management is the name given to the
general process of managing a changing software
system. The aim of configuration management is to
support the system integration process so that all
developers can access the project code and documents
in a controlled way, find out what changes have been
made, and compile and link components to create a
system.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 23
 Configuration management
Configuration management activities include:
• Version management, where support is provided to keep track of
the different versions of software components. Version management
systems include facilities to coordinate development by several
programmers.
• System integration, where support is provided to help developers
define what versions of components are used to create each version
of a system. This description is then used to build a system
automatically by compiling and linking the required components.
• Problem tracking, where support is provided to allow users to
report bugs and other problems, and to allow all developers to see
who is working on these problems and when they are fixed.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 24
 Host-target development
Most software is developed on one computer (the host,
development platform), but runs on a separate machine
(the target, execution platform). A platform is more than
just hardware; it includes the installed operating system
plus other supporting software such as a database
management system or, for development platforms, an
interactive development environment (IDE). Development
platform usually has different installed software than
execution platform; these platforms may have different
architectures. Mobile app development (e.g. for Android) is
a good example.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 25
 Host-target development
Typical development platform tools include:
• An integrated compiler and syntax-directed editing system
that allows you to create, edit and compile code.
• A language debugging system.
• Graphical editing tools, such as tools to edit UML models.
• Testing tools, such as JUnit that can automatically run a set
of tests on a new version of a program.
• Project support tools that help you organize the code for
different development projects.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 26
 Open source development
Open source development is an approach to software
development in which the source code of a software system is
published and volunteers are invited to participate in the
development process.
Its roots are in the Free Software Foundation, which advocates
that source code should not be proprietary but rather should
always be available for users to examine and modify as they wish.
Open source software extended this idea by using the Internet to
recruit a much larger population of volunteer developers. Many of
them are also users of the code.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 27
 Open source development
The best-known open source product is, of course, the Linux
operating system which is widely used as a server system and,
increasingly, as a desktop environment. Other important open
source products are Java, the Apache web server and the mySQL
database management system.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 28
 Open source development
A fundamental principle of open-source development is that source
code should be freely available, this does not mean that anyone can do
as they wish with that code. Typical licensing models include:
• The GNU General Public License (GPL). This is a so-called 'reciprocal'
license that means that if you use open source software that is licensed
under the GPL license, then you must make that software open source.
• The GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) is a variant of the
GPL license where you can write components that link to open source
code without having to publish the source of these components.
• The Berkley Standard Distribution (BSD) License. This is a non-
reciprocal license, which means you are not obliged to re-publish any
changes or modifications made to open source code. You can include
the code in proprietary systems that are sold.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 29
 Software Testing: The big picture
Testing is intended to show that a program does what it is
intended to do and to discover program defects before it
is put into use. When you test software, you execute a
program using artificial data. You check the results of the
test run for errors, anomalies or information about the
program's non-functional attributes. Testing can reveal the
presence of errors, but NOT their absence. Testing is
part of a more general verification and validation process,
which also includes static validation techniques.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 30
 Software Testing: Goals
• To demonstrate to the developer and the customer that the
software meets its requirements.
• Leads to validation testing: you expect the system to perform
correctly using a given set of test cases that reflect the system's
expected use.
• A successful test shows that the system operates as intended.
• To discover situations in which the behavior of the software is
incorrect, undesirable or does not conform to its specification.
• Leads to defect testing: the test cases are designed to expose
defects; the test cases can be deliberately obscure and need
not reflect how the system is normally used.
• A successful test is a test that makes the system perform
incorrectly and so exposes a defect in the system.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 31
 Software Testing:

Testing can be viewed

as an input-output
process:

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 32
 Verification and validation
Testing is part of a broader process of software
verification and validation (V & V).
• Verification: Are we building the product
right?
The software should conform to its
specification.
• Validation: Are we building the right product?
The software should do what the user really
requires.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 33
 Verification and validation
The goal of V & V is to establish confidence that
the system is good enough for its intended use,
which depends on:
• Software purpose: the level of confidence
depends on how critical the software is to an
organization.
• User expectations: users may have low
expectations of certain kinds of software.
• Marketing environment: getting a product to
market early may be more important than finding
defects in the program.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 34
 Inspections and testing
Software inspections involve people examining the source
representation with the aim of discovering anomalies and
defects. Inspections not require execution of a system so
may be used before implementation. They may be applied to
any representation of the system (requirements, design,
configuration data, test data, etc.). They have been shown to
be an effective technique for discovering program errors.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 35
 Inspections and testing
Advantages of inspections include:
• During testing, errors can mask (hide) other errors. Because
inspection is a static process, you don't have to be concerned
with interactions between errors.
• Incomplete versions of a system can be inspected without
additional costs. If a program is incomplete, then you need to
develop specialized test harnesses to test the parts that are
available.
• As well as searching for program defects, an inspection can
also consider broader quality attributes of a program, such
as compliance with standards, portability and maintainability.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 36
 Inspections and testing
Inspections and testing are complementary and not opposing
verification techniques. Both should be used during the V & V process.
Inspections can check conformance with a specification but not
conformance with the customer's real requirements. Inspections cannot
check non-functional characteristics such as performance, usability, etc.
Typically, a commercial software system has to go through three stages of
testing:
• Development testing: the system is tested during development to
discover bugs and defects.
• Release testing: a separate testing team test a complete version of the
system before it is released to users.
• User testing: users or potential users of a system test the system in their
own environment.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 37
 Development testing
Development testing includes all testing activities that are
carried out by the team developing the system:
• Unit testing: individual program units or object classes
are tested; should focus on testing the functionality of
objects or methods.
• Component testing: several individual units are
integrated to create composite components; should
focus on testing component interfaces.
• System testing: some or all of the components in a
system are integrated and the system is tested as a
whole; should focus on testing component interactions.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 38
 Unit testing
Unit testing is the process of testing individual
components in isolation. It is a defect testing
process. Units may be:
• Individual functions or methods within an
object;
• Object classes with several attributes and
methods;
• Composite components with defined
interfaces used to access their functionality.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 39
 Unit testing
When testing object classes, tests should be
designed to provide coverage of all of the
features of the object:
• Test all operations associated with the object;
• Set and check the value of all attributes
associated with the object;
• Put the object into all possible states, i.e.
simulate all events that cause a state change.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 40
 Unit testing
Whenever possible, unit testing should be automated so that tests are
run and checked without manual intervention. In automated unit
testing, you make use of a test automation framework (such as JUnit)
to write and run your program tests. Unit testing frameworks provide
generic test classes that you extend to create specific test cases. They
can then run all of the tests that you have implemented and report,
often through some GUI, on the success of otherwise of the tests.
An automated test has three parts:
• A setup part, where you initialize the system with the test case,
namely the inputs and expected outputs.
• A call part, where you call the object or method to be tested.
• An assertion part where you compare the result of the call with the
expected result. If the assertion evaluates to true, the test has been
successful if false, then it has failed.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 41
 Unit testing
The test cases should show that, when used as expected,
the component that you are testing does what it is
supposed to do. If there are defects in the component,
these should be revealed by test cases. This leads to two
types of unit test cases:
• The first of these should reflect normal operation of a
program and should show that the component works as
expected.
• The other kind of test case should be based on testing
experience of where common problems arise. It should
use abnormal inputs to check that these are properly
processed and do not crash the component.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 42
 Component testing
Software components are often composite components that are
made up of several interacting objects. You access the
functionality of these objects through the defined component
interface. Testing composite components should therefore focus on
showing that the component interface behaves according to its
specification. Objectives are to detect faults due to interface errors or
invalid assumptions about interfaces. Interface types include:
• Parameter interfaces: data passed from one method or procedure
to another.
• Shared memory interfaces: block of memory is shared between
procedures or functions.
• Procedural interfaces: sub-system encapsulates a set of
procedures to be called by other sub-systems.
• Message passing interfaces: sub-systems request services from
other sub-systems.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 43
 Component testing
Interface errors:
• Interface misuse: a calling component calls another
component and makes an error in its use of its interface
e.g. parameters in the wrong order.
• Interface misunderstanding: a calling component
embeds assumptions about the behavior of the called
component which are incorrect.
• Timing errors: the called and the calling component
operate at different speeds and out-of-date information
is accessed.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 44
 Component testing
General guidelines for interface testing:
• Design tests so that parameters to a called procedure
are at the extreme ends of their ranges.
• Always test pointer parameters with null pointers.
• Design tests which cause the component to fail.
• Use stress testing in message passing systems.
• In shared memory systems, vary the order in which
components are activated.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 45
 System testing
System testing during development involves integrating components to
create a version of the system and then testing the integrated system.
The focus in system testing is testing the interactions between
components. System testing checks that components are compatible,
interact correctly and transfer the right data at the right time across their
interfaces. System testing tests the emergent behavior of a system.
During system testing, reusable components that have been separately
developed and off-the-shelf systems may be integrated with newly
developed components. The complete system is then tested. Components
developed by different team members or sub-teams may be integrated at
this stage. System testing is a collective rather than an individual process.
The use cases developed to identify system interactions can be used as a
basis for system testing. Each use case usually involves several system
components so testing the use case forces these interactions to occur. The
sequence diagrams associated with the use case document the
components and their interactions that are being tested.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 46
 Test-driven development
Test-driven development (TDD) is an approach to program
development in which you inter-leave testing and code
development. Tests are written before code and 'passing' the
tests is the critical driver of development. This is a differentiating
feature of TDD versus writing unit tests after the code is written: it
makes the developer focus on the requirements before writing the
code. The code is developed incrementally, along with a test
for that increment. You don't move on to the next increment until
the code that you have developed passes its test. TDD was
introduced as part of agile methods such as Extreme
Programming.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 47
 Test-driven development
However, it can also be used in plan-driven development
processes.
TDD example - a string calculator.
The goal of TDD isn't to ensure we write tests by writing them
first, but to produce working software that achieves a targeted
set of requirements using simple, maintainable solutions. To
achieve this goal, TDD provides strategies for keeping code
working, simple, relevant, and free of duplication.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 48
 Test-driven development
TDD process includes the following activities:
• Start by identifying the increment of functionality that is required. This
should normally be small and implementable in a few lines of code.
• Write a test for this functionality and implement this as an automated test.
• Run the test, along with all other tests that have been implemented. Initially,
you have not implemented the functionality so the new test will fail.
• Implement the functionality and re-run the test.
• Once all tests run successfully, you move on to implementing the next chunk of
functionality.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 49
 Test-driven development
Benefits of test-driven development:
• Code coverage: every code segment that you write has at least one
associated test so all code written has at least one test.
• Regression testing: a regression test suite is developed incrementally as
a program is developed.
• Simplified debugging: when a test fails, it should be obvious where the
problem lies; the newly written code needs to be checked and modified.
• System documentation: the tests themselves are a form of
documentation that describe what the code should be doing.
Regression testing is testing the system to check that changes have
not 'broken' previously working code. In a manual testing process,
regression testing is expensive but, with automated testing, it is simple and
straightforward. All tests are rerun every time a change is made to the
program. Tests must run 'successfully' before the change is committed.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 50
 Release testing
Release testing is the process of testing a particular
release of a system that is intended for use outside of
the development team. The primary goal of the release
testing process is to convince the customer of the
system that it is good enough for use.
Release testing, therefore, has to show that the system
delivers its specified functionality, performance and
dependability, and that it does not fail during normal use.
Release testing is usually a black-box testing process
where tests are only derived from the system
specification.

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 51
 Release testing
Release testing is a form of system testing.
Important differences:
• A separate team that has not been involved in the
system development, should be responsible for
release testing.
• System testing by the development team should focus
on discovering bugs in the system (defect testing).
The objective of release testing is to check that the
system meets its requirements and is good enough for
external use (validation testing).

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 52
 Release testing
Requirements-based testing involves examining each requirement and
developing a test or tests for it. It is validation rather than defect testing:
you are trying to demonstrate that the system has properly implemented
its requirements.
Scenario testing is an approach to release testing where you devise
typical scenarios of use and use these to develop test cases for the
system. Scenarios should be realistic and real system users should be able
to relate to them. If you have used scenarios as part of the requirements
engineering process, then you may be able to reuse these as testing
scenarios.
Part of release testing may involve testing the emergent properties of a
system, such as performance and reliability. Tests should reflect the profile
of use of the system. Performance tests usually involve planning a series of
tests where the load is steadily increased until the system performance
becomes unacceptable. Stress testing is a form of performance testing
where the system is deliberately overloaded to test its failure behavior.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 53
 User testing
User or customer testing is a stage in the testing process in which users or
customers provide input and advice on system testing. User testing is essential,
even when comprehensive system and release testing have been carried out. Types of
user testing include:
• Alpha testing: users of the software work with the development team to test the
software at the developer's site.
• Beta testing: a release of the software is made available to users to allow them to
experiment and to raise problems that they discover with the system developers.
• Acceptance testing: customers test a system to decide whether or not it is ready to
be accepted from the system developers and deployed in the customer environment.
In agile methods, the user/customer is part of the development team and is
responsible for making decisions on the acceptability of the system. Tests are defined
by the user/customer and are integrated with other tests in that they are run
automatically when changes are made. Main problem here is whether or not the
embedded user is 'typical' and can represent the interests of all system stakeholders.
University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 54
 End of session

University of Ghana | Mark Atta Mensah| Dept. of Computer Science | 14/09/2021 CSCD306 | DCIT208 | Software Engineering 20/21 55