Black-Box Software Testing Techniques

Overview/Description
Software systems are increasingly ubiquitous in all aspects of our lives. Failures in these systems can be costly in terms of money, time, and business reputation. Some software failures can even result in personal injury or death. Effective software testing is integral to mitigating harm caused by software failures and providing confidence in software systems. This course introduces software testing methodology and principles. It explores why testing is necessary, the basic testing process, and the psychology behind testing. This course is one of a series intended to align with the Certified Tester Foundations Level Syllabus (the "Syllabus"). The authors, Thomas Muller (chair), Dorothy Graham, Debra Friedenberg, and Erik van Veendendal, and the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB®) are the source and copyright owners of the Syllabus. The course is intended to help learners prepare for the Foundation Certificate in Software Testing exam (BH0-010) which is provided by the Information Systems Examination Board (ISEB), a globally-recognized testing body providing software testing certification. SkillSoft makes no claim to any approval or endorsement of this course by any of the aforementioned parties or other third party.

Target Audience
Software developers, technical and user acceptance testers, test analysts, test engineers, test consultants, test managers, project managers, quality managers; anyone with an interest in testing.

Prerequisites
Working experience with computers; prior experience in either software testing or the software development cycle would be beneficial.

Expected Duration (hours)
1.5

Lesson Objectives

Black-Box Software Testing Techniques

recognize how basic equivalence partitioning works

identify some of the most common black-box software testing techniques

determine boundary values for a boundary analysis

recognize how to construct software test cases using advanced equivalence partitioning and boundary value analysis

write a software test case using equivalence partitioning

write a software test case using equivalence partitioning and boundary value analysis

recognize how decision tables work in software testing

recognize how state transitions work in software testing

recognize the functions of state transition and finite state machines in software testing

recognize how to build use cases in software testing

create a decision table and evaluate its effectiveness at designing software test cases

create a state transition table and evaluate its effectiveness at designing software test cases

create a use case and evaluate its effectiveness at designing software test cases