Exploratory Testing

Mary Alton — Fri, 14 May 2021 18:45:05 +0000

Do you perform any exploratory testing on APIs? How do you do it?

Here’s an in-depth version of the reply I gave, with the benefit of links to deeper material.

To begin: application programming interfaces (APIs) are means by which we can use software to send commands to a product to make it do something. We do perform some testing on APIs themselves; interfaces represent one set of dimensions or factors or elements of the product. In a deeper sense, we’re not simply testing the APIs; we’re using them to control and observe the product, so that we can learn lots of things about it.

Now, there’s a problem with the first question: it implies that there is some kind of testing that is not exploratory. But all testing is exploratory. The idea that testing isn’t exploratory comes, in part, from a confusion between demonstrating that a product can work and testing to learn how it does work, and how it might not work.

https://www.developsense.com/blog/2018/07/exploratory-testing-on-an-api-part-1/

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Exploratory Testing 3.0

Mary Alton — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 17:11:13 +0000

In the beginning, there was testing. No one distinguished between exploratory and scripted testing. Jerry Weinberg’s 1961 chapter about testing in his book, Computer Programming Fundamentals, depicted testing as inherently exploratory and expressed caution about formalizing it. He wrote, “It is, of course, difficult to have the machine check how well the program matches the intent of the programmer without giving a great deal of information about that intent. If we had some simple way of presenting that kind of information to the machine for checking, we might just as well have the machine do the coding. Let us not forget that complex logical operations occur through a combination of simple instructions executed by the computer and not by the computer logically deducing or inferring what is desired.”

https://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/1509

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Video Highlights from RST Online Classes

Mary Alton — Sun, 16 Oct 2022 11:55:45 +0000

RST Peer Advisor Marius Francu has created a YouTube playlist of insights from the online RST Explored and RST Applied classes. For those who haven’t yet taken a class, these offer a little taste of some of the lessons that you might learn. For those who have taken the class, they can be helpful reminders of some of the important points.

Go to the RST YouTube Channel

Responding to a Critique of Taking Testing Seriously

Michael Bolton and James Bach respond to Oleksandr Bolzhelarskyi.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/oleksandr-bolzhelarskyi_ive-finished-reading-taking-testing-seriously-activity-7424284118802354176-nV5E?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAJyE3QBSjMd-wGkGZkMdD7Kj6HO2zB_CI4

Responding to a Critique of Taking Testing Seriously

Michael Bolton and James Bach respond to Oleksandr Bolzhelarskyi. ...

Michael Bolton - Why Take RST Classes?

"Now that there's a book — Taking Testing Seriously: The Rapid ...

How to Report AI-Assisted Work

James and Michael discuss their system for reporting on the status of ...

Technical Work is All About Learning - Conversations on Taking Testing Seriously

In this video, James Bach and Karen N. Johnson are discussing about ...

The Book is Out

So strange when an idea becomes a real thing.

What is Normal? - Conversations on Taking Testing Seriously

In this video, James Bach and Karen N. Johnson read from our soon to ...

On Magic Boxes and Magic - Conversations on Taking Testing Seriously

In this video, James Bach and Michael Bolton read from our soon to be ...

James Christie Conversation regarding Testing and Audits with James Bach and Michael Bolton

"Following the happy path is a foreign concept to good, experienced ...

What Are We Thinking in the Age of AI? And are we still thinking like testers? - Michael Bolton

It’s the topic that’s on everyone’s lips… AI… We’re all aware by now, ...

Testing & Automation in the Age of AI: Hype, Hope, or Headaches - Questions Time - Michael Bolton

It’s the topic that’s on everyone’s lips… AI… We’re all aware by now, ...

Michael Bolton - On testing and testing like a user

#testing #qa #agile #user_testing #rst #context_driven_testing

Conversation #1: Checking, Testing, and Mutation

My son likes to talk to me while we drive. I discover he knows more ...

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Exploratory Testing Archives — Rapid Software Testing

Exploratory Testing

Exploratory Testing 3.0

Video Highlights from RST Online Classes

Responding to a Critique of Taking Testing Seriously