So, what if you're not testing software that runs on a PC or a Mac? Was this chapter a waste of your time? No way! Everything you learned can be applied to testing generic or proprietary systems, too. It doesn't matter what the hardware is or what it's connected to; if it can have variations such as memory size, CPU speed, etc, or, if it connects to another piece of hardware, software configuration issues need to be tested. If you're testing software for an industrial controller, a network, medical devices, or a phone system, ask yourself the same questions that you would if you were testing software for a desktop computer:
Create equivalence partitions of the hardware based on input from the people who work with the equipment, your project manager, or your sales people. Develop test cases, collect the selected hardware, and run the tests. Configuration testing follows the same testing techniques that you've already learned. |