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Written by Edvin Eshagh
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Both Black-Box and White-Box software testing strategies have their strength and weaknesses. Each requires specific implementation strategy to maximize testing efforts.
BLACK-BOX TESTING Black box testing is concerned with testing the software interfaces; where the tester has no knowledge or does not consider the internals of the software system. - Using "boundary equivalence class" testing is a great strategy for black-box testing.
- Smoke testing can be considered blackbox testing because it is used as acceptance test before the "main" testing. 1
- Static tests (test that are not involved with running code) such as requirement analysis and design review are considered considered black-box testing because the tester does not know about the details of the software implementation. 2
- Test Driven Development are black box testing, because you write your test without seeing the internals of the code. See also white-box testing.5
WHITE-BOX TESTINGWhite-Box testers take note of the internals of the software implementation and adjust their tests accordingly. - In addition to code-review, walkthrough, and inspections there are other strategies for white-box testing which involves understanding the internals of the system. Other examples of white-box testing is "structured index", where the tester uses a tool that provides the cyclomatic (complexity) index to better focus his/her efforts. 3
- Another example of white-box testing is statement/line coverage, branch coverage (path testing), and condition coverage. 4
- Unit testing are also white-box testing because you can focus on testing the internal of software. 5
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceptance_testing [2] Barry Boehm & Victor R. Basili. "Software Defect Reduction Top 10 List". University Of Southern California [3] Introduction to Structured Testing." HISSA. Web. 26 Sept. 2011.http://hissa.ncsl.nist.gov/HHRFdata/Artifacts/ITLdoc/235/chapter1.htm [4] Patton, Ron. "Software Testing (2nd Edition) (9780672327988) [5] http://agiletesting.blogspot.com/2005/08/white-box-vs-black-box-testing.html |