@eviltester
Alan Richardson
@eviltester · 3:55

What is Software Testing? Evolving a personal definition.

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Another instantiation are the requirements, all of these things comparing a model of the software to those different aspects as part of software testing. And also I squeezed in there one of the reasons for software testing, which is for the purposes of providing information about that comparison to stakeholders, not just general information, but the actual results of conducting that comparison

I periodically revisit my definitions to find out how the models are represented in my brain and how I instinctively communicate them.

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@SeekingPlumb

@eviltester Questions re perspective & time &...

I don't even know if people still play it, but there was a game where you had a card, and at the top of the card was a word, and you had to convey that word to your teammates without saying it or any of the words underneath in a list. And I feel like that was such a powerful tool because not only are you looking at the definitions that you use, but you're trying to communicate an idea for someone else to get it right
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@eviltester
Alan Richardson
@eviltester · 4:24
Information is the new stuff that we pass that we couldn't necessarily predict. When someone is saying something, communication is ultimately not what we say, but what someone hears and understands. So we have this cycle of saying something, asking a question to see if the person got it, taking that information back. And it's rare that you or I discuss software testing at that high level definition, philosophical type approach with people who are not software testers
@SeekingPlumb

@eviltester

And yet they still have the same intention, the same goals, would still achieve the same things right. And with similar philosophical approaches. I just wanted to say thank you for that. And I wish you much enjoyment in testing the evil waters ahead. Or rather, the evil tester. Testing the waters ahead. Anyway, again, thank you. Bye
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@sudha
Sudha Varadarajan
@sudha · 1:25

@eviltester

Alan, I love your definition, especially the use of instantiation, because in my world, we end up creating so many versions of what we do that it is really testing an instant against a model and comparing it. But here is my definition, at least for today. What, what? What? What? What? What? What? What? Is software testing evolving a best possible experience with the software? And the reason I say that is because sometimes I believe the model is not accurate too
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@eviltester
Alan Richardson
@eviltester · 1:11

@sudha

The scope of what we're going to do is going to be different. And one of the things about models, when I'm testing, I'm not just trying to clarify the model in terms of making sure the model is correct. I'm trying to expand the model. I'm trying to find things that are not in my model and deliberately trying to look for where does my model not match the software?
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