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Unique Concepts of Software Testing

 

There are some unique terms in software testing. Such as: Defect Clustering, Pesticide Paradox, Absence of Error Fallacy, Defect Cascading and more. So, Let's study about the concepts.

🧠 Advanced Testing Principles & Fallacies

🧩 Term 📘 Description
Defect Clustering Most defects are found in a small number of modules (Pareto Principle).
Pesticide Paradox Repeating the same tests will no longer find new bugs—tests must evolve.
Absence of Error Fallacy A bug-free system may still fail if it doesn’t meet user needs.
Defect Cascading One defect triggers others in dependent modules, causing a chain reaction.
Confirmation Bias in Testing Tendency to write tests that confirm the system works, not that it fails.
Test Oracle Problem Difficulty in determining the correct expected outcome for a test.
False Positives/Negatives Tests that incorrectly pass or fail, leading to misleading results.

🛠️ Strategic Testing Techniques

🧩 Term 📘 Description
Exploratory Testing Simultaneous learning, test design, and execution.
Risk-Based Testing Prioritizing tests based on business and technical risk.
Mutation Testing Introducing small changes to code to check if tests catch them.
Orthogonal Array Testing Efficiently tests combinations of inputs using statistical methods.
Equivalence Partitioning Dividing input data into valid/invalid groups to reduce test cases.
Boundary Value Analysis Testing at the edges of input ranges where bugs often occur.

🔍 Quality Metrics & Governance

📊 Term 📝 Description
Defect Density Number of defects per unit of code (e.g., per KLOC).
Defect Removal Efficiency (DRE) Percentage of defects found before release vs. total found.
Test Case Effectiveness Ratio of defects found to test cases executed.
Traceability Matrix (RTM) Maps test cases to requirements to ensure full coverage.
Code Coverage vs. Test Coverage Code coverage = % of code executed; test coverage = % of requirements tested.

🚀 Agile & DevOps Testing Terms

🧩 Term 📘 Description
Shift Left Testing Moving testing earlier in the development lifecycle.
Test Pyramid Emphasizes more unit tests, fewer UI tests.
Smoke Testing Basic tests to verify critical functionality before deeper testing.
Sanity Testing Quick checks after minor changes to ensure functionality.
CI/CD Testing Continuous testing integrated into DevOps pipelines.
Test Orchestration Coordinating automated test execution across environments.

📘 Bonus: Rare but Impressive Terms

🧩 Term 📘 Description
Heuristic Testing Using experience-based rules to guide testing.
Error Guessing Anticipating defects based on intuition and past experience.
Back-to-Back Testing Comparing outputs of two systems with the same input.
Big Bang Testing Integrating all components at once and testing as a whole.
Fuzz Testing Feeding random or malformed data to find security vulnerabilities.

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