Testing Training Courses

Course Description:
Testing is a vital aspect of verfying the design of a software system. This is especially true in a real-time embedded environment, where the system may be subject to strict safety or reliability requirements. Engineers require a good knowledge of how to test their code but, beyond that, they must understand other techniques to find and eliminate errors earlier in the design lifecycle. Supporting testing are the concepts of configuration and change management, vital skills required for managing industrial software.

This course introduces the concepts and practice of testing real-time embedded software across the entire development lifecycle.

Attendees will also perform practical exercises in static analysis and dynamic software testing.

Overview:
A four day course covering testing software in a real-time embedded environment. The course is a mixture of lectures and practical exercises.

Course Objectives:
• To understand the need for testing in an embedded environment
• To develop practical testing skills
• To give an understanding of the test process and how it fits with the development lifecycle
• To identify the different types of testing and where and when they should be used.
• To introduce good testing practices

Delegates will learn:
• How to perform static analysis of code
• The creation of black box test harnesses
• The creation of white box tests
• An understanding of software metrics
• How to create tests from Use Cases

Pre-requisites:
Attendees should have a practical working knowledge of the C language.

Who should attend:
The course is designed for software engineers working in an embedded, real-time environment. The target audience is engineers who have to create and also test their own code. The course is also highly beneficial for test engineers new to software testing in a real-time environment.

Duration:
Four days

Course Materials:
Delegate handbook

Related courses:
• C-501 C for Real-Time Developers
• AC-401 Advanced C Programming
• C++501 C++ for Embedded Developers
• AC++-501 Advanced C++ for Embedded Systems

Course Workshop:
At lease a third of the course is devoted to practical exercises. Delegates will gain hands-on experience developing test harnesses, static analysis and software metric analysis.

Course Outline:

Introduction to testing
- Why test software?
Concepts of Testing
- Why exhaustive testing is not practicable
- The concept of good test/bad tests
- Categories and levels of test
- Test cases and test procedures
Test Harnesses
- Principles of test harnesses
- Creating a test harness
- Commercial test tools
Dynamic Testing
- Structured basis testing
- Equivalence Partitions
- Boundary Value Analysis
- Problems with polymorphic code
Model-Based Testing
- Synthesis- versus Analysis- models
- Generating tests from state diagrams
Coverage Testing
- Why perform White-box tests?
- Coverage measures – Statement, Branch, Condition, Path and others
- Coverage testing tools
Code reviews
- Benefits of reviews
- Review process
- Checklists
Static Analysis
- Static analysis concepts
- The use of the compiler for
- static analysis
- The implications ISO C standard Annex F
- Static analysis tools
- Coding standards
Metrics
- Why gather metrics?
- Using metrics to manage and control testing
- Metrics for test
Software Integration
- Importance of planning your integration.
- Top-down vs Bottom-up
- Integration
- Practical integration models
Testing from use cases
- Introduction to use cases
- Calculating test cases
- Structured Basis testing for use cases
- Generating test cases from use cases
Regression testing
- Purpose of regression tests
- The build process
Configuration Management
- Why is configuration management vital?
- Configuration items
- Version control
- Change Management
- CM tools
Test Management
- The test process
- How the test process relates to
- the software V-model
- “Design by contract”
- Test-driven development
- Agile development processes