Software testing measures the completeness, correctness and quality of the software. Because these can be somewhat subjective depending on who is doing the testing, There have been many attempts to formalize testing requirements.

These organizations have standardized Testing Definitions and processes:

IEEE
ISO 9000
CMMI
Six Sigma

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Functionality

Does the system do what it is required to do.

Accuracy
Compliance
Interoperability
Security
Suitability

Maintainability

Pertaining to the supportability of the software.

Readily Changeable
Readability
Stability

Portability

The ability to move the application into another environment.

Adaptability
Installation
Upgradable

Reliability

The performance of the system in relation to the required specifications.

Recovery
System Maturity

Usability

The end users ability to use the system.

Ease of Learning the system
Intuitiveness
Operability

Common Software Testing Definitions

Unit Testing - This is usually done by the developer. This is testing the functionality of the change to verify that the change works.

Smoke Test - After a successful build, a smoke test is run to ensure the newly developed code does not break the operational system and that the new code is stable enough to be more thoroughly tested.

Integration Tests - is designed to expose bugs in connectors and interactions between the integrated components of the system.

System Tests - verify the application meets it's requirements.

Regression Tests - ensure that previously working functionality continues to work appropriately after new functionality is added.

Acceptance Tests - are conducted by the end-user to determine if they accept the software is working as required.

Software Development Lifecycle

How the test cycle works through the SDLC,

Define - This is where the requirement analysis is done. During this phase, Testing would analyze what aspects are testable.

Plan - During the Planning phase, the test strategy and plans are formulated.

Construction - As the developers start writing the new code, the test cases and sceneries are being scripted.

Testing - This is where the testing and test scripts are being run. This in-turn spurs defect finding and reports. Which leads to retesting and more regression tests.

Deployment - Final acceptance.

For more information about the Software Development Process

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