Descriptions and best practices for a variety of testing-related activities used throughout the software development life cycle. Please comment and contribute!

Unit testing

The lowest level of testing performed during software development, where individual units of software are tested in isolation from other units; the smallest software component.

Functional testing

Testing to ensure that the edits, processes, and outputs conform to the specification or expectation. This level of testing is concerned with the entire system, not just small pieces or units of code. A common way of differentiating between unit testing and functional testing is to ask whether the order of the tests matters. If the order matters, the test is part of functional testing.

Security testing

Testing to find vulnerabilities in the application which could allow accidental or malicious access, misuse, modification, destruction, or disclosure of the application or data.

Regression testing

Testing to ensure that previously-working software continues to work as intended, and to detect unintended consequences resulting from program changes.

Stress testing

Testing to verify the stability of the system while executing with a high volume of data, or under conditions of insufficient resources (such as memory or disk space), of unusually high concurrency, or of sustained high loads.

Usability testing

Testing to assess ease or efficiency of use through the study of user interaction with a product or product simulation.

Accessibility testing

Testing to demonstrate the degree to which a system is usable by as many people as possible without modification, often focusing on people with disabilities.

Here is a link to the Accessibility Evaluation Procedure (Draft): http://www.washington.edu/accessibility/accessibleweb/eval_proc.html

Contact Rick Ells for more info. 

Also, JAWS is a screen reader that can be used for testing.  See http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/JAWS_HQ.asp for more information.

Interoperability testing

Testing to verify if computer systems or software applications/components can operate and interact smoothly.

User Acceptance testing

Testing to enable the 'owners' (clients) of the product to finally accept the product deliverables or application.

Code review

A testing technique where source code logic and structure are traced manually in a meeting of interested technical parties to analyze the programmer's logic and assumptions.

Test Results/Defect tracking

Testing activities to identify test coverage (which tests have been run, passed, and failed), and document the status of issues which have been discovered during testing and other development processes.

External Interface (Data Exchange) Testing

Testing to verify the connection between two or more entities.

Test Management

A summary of the management/administrative activities that relate to testing.