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Black box testing is mostly what we’ve described in our previous lessons. The tester does not need to know anything about how the system or software works to test it.
Definitions:
- Black Box: A tester with no knowledge of the underlying code and only tests according to the desired user experience.
- White Box: A tester with intimate knowledge of the underlying code and allows that to inform them where to test.
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[MUSIC]
0:00
Hello again.
0:04
This will be our final
stage into our Intro to QA.
0:06
At this point you've got in
a lot of the basics down.
0:10
You know how to manually test software,
you know how to write and execute a test
0:12
case, you know how to organize those
test cases into a test plan, and
0:17
how to write bug reports.
0:21
So at this point, we'd like to
talk about where to go from here.
0:24
In the next videos, we'll talk a lot about
how to become a better QA engineer and
0:28
how to go beyond the basics of just
writing test cases and reporting bugs.
0:34
Armed with some of this knowledge, you
should be able to find more resources and
0:39
avenues of testing to make your
software better and more reliable.
0:44
First I wanna talk about the concept
of black box versus white box testing.
0:49
Black box testing is mostly what we've
described in our previous lessons.
0:55
The tester does not need to know
anything about how the system or
0:59
the software works to test it.
1:03
The tester is only concerned about how
the end user would see the software.
1:06
One example is with our RSVP app.
1:11
You can test out loading the page and
inviting someone, but
1:14
you otherwise don't need to know
about what's going on under the hood.
1:17
On the other end,
we have white box testing.
1:22
This is where a QA engineer might know
a lot about the underlying code that makes
1:25
the software run.
1:30
By being a white box tester, you can
review code and help implement unit tests.
1:31
In our RSVP app,
1:37
we could be a white box tester by creating
some unit tests for the new class.
1:39
We strive to approach QA from both angles.
1:44
Knowing how complex some parts of
the code are to test and why even tiny
1:47
changes to them can mean dramatic changes
around the app, is a useful trait.
1:52
But it's also useful to take an impartial
look at the software from time to time and
1:57
have empathy for the user.
2:02
An important scenario to note
here is that the developers and
2:05
white box testers can easily get caught
up in the implementation of the software.
2:08
Fixing a certain defect may seem
impossible to a developer at first glance,
2:13
and they might be willing to let the
defect slide because of the complexity in
2:18
fixing it.
2:22
But we shouldn't lose sight that it's the
end-users experience that really matters.
2:23
Thinking about these problems
from a black box perspective
2:29
should give you some more grounding and
leverage in discussions about what to fix.
2:32
Maybe a simple fix is to remove
the feature altogether and
2:37
give the user another way
to get what they need done.
2:41
In our next two videos, we'll go over
some ways that you can employ both
2:45
types of testing, and
export totally new ways
2:49
to test that go beyond the simple basics
we've covered in previous lessons.
2:52
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