Testing software is an essential part of software development, aimed at ensuring its quality, reliability, and correctness. Effective testing involves various strategies and techniques, including the use of appropriate test data, such as:
- Type checking involves testing the software’s ability to handle different data types correctly. This includes providing test data of various types, such as integers, floating-point numbers, strings, and dates, to ensure the software processes and handles them appropriately.
- Range checking involves testing the software’s behaviour with different input ranges. This includes testing with both valid and invalid input values to verify that the software properly validates and handles inputs within the expected range. For example, if a function accepts values from 1 to 100, testing with values outside this range helps ensure that the software correctly detects and handles out-of-range inputs.
Methods of testing include desk checking an algorithm (possibly using a trace table) and stepping through a coded solution.