Testing Vocabulary

Here are some terms that we need to start getting familiar with:

• Test Plan: A test plan documents the strategy that will be used to verify and ensures that a product or system meets its design specifications and other requirements.

• Test Case: A set of conditions or variables under which a tester will determine whether an application or software system is working correctly or not. In our ColdFusion space, it might be represented by an MXUnit test case CFC.

• Test Script: A set of instructions that will be performed on the system under test to test that the system functions as expected. This can be manual or automated. Sometimes they can be called runners.

• Test Suite: A collection of test cases that are intended to be used to test a software program to show that it has some specified set of behaviors or met expectations.

• Test Data: A collection of pre-defined data or mocked data used to run against our test cases.

• Test Harness: A collection of software and test data configured to test a program unit by running it under varying conditions and monitoring its behavior and outputs.

• TDD: Test Driven Development - A software development process that relies on the repetition of a very short development cycle: first the developer writes a failing automated test case that defines a desired improvement or new function, then produces code to pass that test and finally refactors the new code to acceptable standards.

• BDD: BDD stands for behavior driven development and is highly based on creating specifications and expectations of results in a readable DSL (Domain Specific Language).

• Mock Object: Simulated objects that mimic the behavior of real objects in controlled ways.

• Stub Object: Simulated objects that have no behavior or implementations and can be controlled and injected with functionality.

• Assertions: The function to test if a predicate is true or false: X>1, 4=5

• Expectations : Much like assertions, it is closely linked to BDD to verify behavior.