https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/specification-based-testing
Specification based testing is a type of software testing that directly uses a systems specification in order to design tests. WHile considered a type of black box testing specification based testing can be used on any type of system but works particularly well when testing web applications. When practicing specification based testing you would first look at the code and its documentation in order to see what must be tested based on its functionality and uses. The objectives of specification based testing are functional accuracy, conduct based compliance, error detection, reliability/robustness, full coverage and compliance with the standards.
There are 7 types of specification based testing listed which are “state transition” which is used to uncover errors in a system when switching states, “decision table” testing which can test functional and non functional system requirements, “equivalence partitioning” which is similar to decision table testing except it is best used when testing different inputs while decision table testing is best used on different combinations of inputs. Then there is “boundary value analysis” which consists of creating a test case for each boundary value, “all pair testing” which makes a test case for every possible input, “classification tree” is based on deriving test cases from a decision tree and “use case” testing which focuses on the functionality of the entire system rather than any individual component.
I selected this topic/source as we have been practicing specification based testing in class recently and I was interested in researching more into the topic and the different types of testing that are classified as specification based and this article from “geeksforgeeks” went in depth not only into what the definition of specification based testing is but also the different types and the objectives of this type of testing.
This article was very helpful in my opinion as is gave me a perspective on specification based testing as a whole and after practicing some of the different types of specification based testing in class and reading this article I have a greater understanding or not only what this type of testing is but also how to go about testing in this fashion and writing test cases which pertain to the specifications of a system. I would consider this type of testing to be one which is more self explanatory than others but being able to understand its importance and its limitations is something that will help me when testing in the future.
From the blog CS@Worcester – Dylan Brown Computer Science by dylanbrowncs and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.