Home > Articles

Testability from a Developer's Perspective

Why should the developer care about testability? Alexander Tarlinder presents the case for testable software and its benefits. The quality attribute testability is broken down into observability, controllability, and smallness and explained further.

This chapter is from the book

Testability means different things to different people depending on the context. From a bird’s eye view, testability is linked to our prior experience of the things we want to test and our tolerance for defects: the commercial web site that we’ve been running for the last five years will require less testing and will be easier to test than the insulin pump that we’re building for the first time. If we run a project, testability would be about obtaining the necessary information, securing resources (such as tools and environments), and having the time to perform various kinds of testing. There’s also a knowledge perspective: How well do we know the product and the technology used to build it? How good are our testing skills? What’s our testing strategy? Yet another take on testability would be developing an understanding of what to build by having reliable specifications and ensuring user involvement. It’s hard to test anything unless we know how it’s supposed to behave.1

Before breaking down what testability means to developers, let’s look at why achieving it for software is an end in itself.

Testable Software

Testable software encourages the existence of tests—be they manual or automatic. The more testable the software, the greater the chance that somebody will test it, that is, verify that it behaves correctly with respect to a specification or some other expectations, or explore its behavior with some specific objective in mind. Generally, people follow the path of least resistance in their work, and if testing isn’t along that path, it’s very likely not going to be performed (Figure 4.1).

Figure 4.1

Figure 4.1 Is untestable software going to be tested?

That testable software will have a greater chance of undergoing some kind of testing may sound really obvious. Equally apparent is the fact that lack of testability, often combined with time pressure, can and does result in bug-ridden and broken software.

Whereas testable software stands on one side of the scale, The Big Ball of Mud (Foote & Yoder 1999) stands on the other. This is code that makes you suspect that the people who wrote it deliberately booby-trapped it with antitestability constructs to make your life miserable. A very real consequence of working with a system that’s evolved into The Big Ball of Mud architecture is that it’ll prevent you from verifying the effects of your coding efforts. For various reasons, such as convoluted configuration, unnecessary start-up time, or just the difficulty to produce a certain state or data, you may actually have a hard time executing the code you’ve just written, not to mention being able to write any kinds of tests for it!

For example, imagine a system that requires you to log in to a user interface (UI) and then performing a series of steps that require interacting with various graphical components and then navigating through multiple views before being able to reach the functionality you’ve just changed or added and want to verify. To make things more realistic (yes, this is a real-life example), further imagine that arriving at the login screen takes four minutes because of some poor design decisions that ended up having a severe impact on start-up time. As another example, imagine a batch program that has to run for 20 minutes before a certain condition is met and a specific path through the code is taken.

Honestly, how many times will you verify, or even just run, the new code if you have to enter values into a multitude of fields in a UI and click through several screens (to say nothing of waiting for the application to start up), or if you must take a coffee break every time you want to check if your batch program behaves correctly for that special almost-never-occurring edge case?

Testers approaching a system with The Big Ball of Mud architecture also face a daunting task. Their test cases will start with a long sequence of instructions about how to put the system in a state the test expects. This will be the script for how to fill in the values in the UI or how to set the system up for the 20-minute-long batch execution. Not only must the testers author that script and make it detailed enough, they must also follow it ... many times, if they are unlucky. Brrr.

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020