Controversy
Some of the major software testing controversies include:
- What constitutes responsible software testing?
- Members of the "context-driven" school of testing believe that there are no "best practices" of testing, but rather that testing is a set of skills that allow the tester to select or invent testing practices to suit each unique situation.
- Agile vs. traditional
- Should testers learn to work under conditions of uncertainty and constant change or should they aim at process "maturity"? The agile testing movement has received growing popularity since 2006 mainly in commercial circles, whereas government and military software providers use this methodology but also the traditional test-last models (e.g. in the Waterfall model).
- Exploratory test vs. scripted
- Should tests be designed at the same time as they are executed or should they be designed beforehand?
- Manual testing vs. automated
- Some writers believe that test automation is so expensive relative to its value that it should be used sparingly. More in particular, test-driven development states that developers should write unit-tests of the XUnit type before coding the functionality. The tests then can be considered as a way to capture and implement the requirements.
- Software design vs. software implementation
- Should testing be carried out only at the end or throughout the whole process?
- Who watches the watchmen?
- The idea is that any form of observation is also an interaction—the act of testing can also affect that which is being tested.
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