Topics in Testing Software Documentation | SE 320, Study notes of Engineering

Material Type: Notes; Professor: Mancoridis; Class: Software Verification and Validation; Subject: Software Engineering; University: Drexel University; Term: Unknown 1989;

Typology: Study notes

Pre 2010

Uploaded on 08/19/2009

koofers-user-ge0-1
koofers-user-ge0-1 🇺🇸

10 documents

1 / 11

Toggle sidebar

This page cannot be seen from the preview

Don't miss anything!

bg1
Topics in Testing Software
Documentation
[Reading assignment: Chapter 12, pp. 183-191]
pf3
pf4
pf5
pf8
pf9
pfa

Partial preview of the text

Download Topics in Testing Software Documentation | SE 320 and more Study notes Engineering in PDF only on Docsity!

Topics in Testing Software

Documentation

[Reading assignment: Chapter 12, pp. 183-191]

The good old days

  • Software documentation was:
    • a readme.txt file copied onto the software’s floppy disk
    • a 1 page insert put into the shrink-wrapped package containing the software
    • comments in the source code!
    • Unix man pages are still in vogue, however …
  • Testers ran a spell checker on the file and

that was about the extent of testing the

documentation.

Classes of

software documentation

  • Packaging text and graphics
  • Marketing material, ads, and other inserts
  • Warranty/registration
  • End User License Agreement (EULA)
  • Labels and stickers
  • Installation and setup instructions
  • User’s manual
  • Online help
  • Tutorials, wizards, and computer-based training
  • Samples, examples, and templates
  • Error messages

Importance of

documentation testing

  • Improves usability
    • Not all software was written for the Mac :-)
  • Improves reliability
    • Testing the documentation is part of black-box testing.
    • A bug in the user manual is like a bug in the software.
  • Lowers support cost
    • The exercise of writing the documentation helped debug the system.

Documentation

testing checklist

  • Audience:
    • E.g., make sure documentation is not too novice or too advanced.
  • Terminology:
    • Is it suitable for the audience?
    • Terms used consistently?
    • Abbreviations for acronyms?
  • Content and subject matter:
    • Appropriate subjects covered?
    • No subjects missing?
    • Proper depth?
    • Missing features described accidentally?

Documentation

testing checklist (cont’d)

  • Just the facts:
    • All information technically correct?
    • Correct table of contents, index, chapter references?
    • Correct website URLs, phone numbers?
  • Step by step:
    • Any missing steps?
    • Compared tester results to those shown in the documentation?
  • Figures and screen captures:
    • Accurate and precise?
    • Are they from the latest version of the software?
    • Are the figure captions correct?
  • Samples and examples:
    • Do all the examples work as advertised?
  • Spelling and grammar

Discussion …

• Who should write software

documentation?

• Why is documentation a second-class

citizen compared to code?

• Why is keeping code/executables and

documentation consistent difficult?

  • Is the problem inherent or due to sloppy

software engineering?

You now know …

• … the definition of software

documentation

• … the importance of testing software

documentation

• … what to look for when testing

software documentation

• … methods for testing software

documentation