[ISTQB] 1.2 What is testing ? (K2)

LO-1.2.1 - Recall the common objectives of testing (K1)

Testing is a set of structured activities with clearly defined and prepared objectives. 

Specifications and project's deliverable describe what is expected from the software or the system, the first aim of testing is consequently to make sure that all requirements are met and that the product fits its purpose. Obviously this activity leads to implicitly assess quality level as well. 

For certifying product/software quality and % of fit for purpose, each dynamic or static test requires to have well known, relevant and factual goals called acceptance criteria.  

Another objective is to find defects proactively, perform a root cause analysis and help to improve the product and/or its development (defect prevention). 

LO-1.2.2 - Provide examples for the objectives of testing in different phases of the software life cycle (K2)

Finding defects earlier as possible is required for reducing cost and effort that would be needed in fixing the final product. The book lists the following first testing principle: Early testing "Testing activities should start as early as possible in the software or system development life cycle and should be focused on defined objectives".

For ensuring this continuously and reliably, testing includes perform reviews, acceptance test, regression test activities. These should always be respectively considered when a software/system is defined, developed or maintained after delivery. 

LO-1.2.3 - Differentiate testing from debugging (K2)

Debugging is "the process of finding, analyzing and removing the causes of failures in software". It is therefore a developer activity aiming to review and find the code requiring a fix for resolving the defect flagged up by the tester.

Testing is clearly independent from debugging because it's an autonomous assessment performed on any new or updated product. Thus, even if the developer may perform some unit tests, an independent tester is needed:
-  to retest and execute regression test for confirming that the debugging have indeed removed defects without introducing others
- to confirm that the product is still consistent and meeting expectations.