ISTQB Foundation Level Notes: Chapter 3 – Static Testing

In this short series, I outline the notes that I took while preparing for this foundation exam.

While the content may not have changed drastically in the time that I took the exam, there may have been small changes or additions that my notes don’t cover. So I would advise you that if you do use my notes to help you revise for the Foundation exam, that you use them as a supplement to the most recent edition of the book (this is an affiliate link) and go over your knowledge with practice exam papers.

Previous notes within this blog series:

Definition

Static Testing are techniques that test software without executing the code.

Two parts: Review of documents and static analysis.

Reviews and the Test Process

Reviews are a systematic examination of a document by one or more people with the aim of finding and removing errors.

Used to test anything written or typed.

Activities of a formal review

Activities of a formal review

People involved in a review:

Manager  decides what is to be reviewed

Moderator leads the review of the document

Author  writer of the document

Reviewers individuals with a specific technical or business background to aid funding defects

Scribe  attends the meeting and documents the defects and issues

Types of review

Types of review

Informal Walkthrough Technical Review  Inspection

Static Analysis By Tools

Can find defects that are hard to find during test execution by analysing the program code.

Value of static analysis:

  • Early detection of defects prior to test execution
  • Early warning about suspicious aspects of the code or design
  • Identification of defects not easily found by dynamic testing
  • Improved maintainability of the code and design
  • Prevention of defects

Defects discovered:

  • References variable with an undefined value
  • Inconsistent interface between modules and components
  • Variables that are never used
  • Unreachable (dead) code
  • Programming standards violations
  • Security vulnerabilities
  • Syntax violations of code and software models

Greatest value when used during component and integration testing.

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