Talk:Regression testing

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Contents 1 Older discussions 2 References 3 Relation with extreme programming 4 Why does this apply only to software? 5 Important questions 6 Types of regression 7 Added citations and a testing resource

[edit] Older discussions

Does anyone know how to document regression testing or any other kind of testion for that matter?Stanko 19:10, 27 September 2006 (UTC)Stanko

I removed this line, as it clearly belongs in talk and not in the article itself: Remaining questions - who invented the term? Who was the first to use it systematically?

And I'm not sure about this quote (I left it in, but added quotations marks to make clear that it's a quote.)

"As a consequence of the introduction of new bugs, program maintenance requires far more system testing per statement written than any other programming. Theoretically, after each fix one must run the entire batch of test cases previously run against the system, to ensure that it has not been damaged in an obscure way. In practice, such regression testing must indeed approximate this theoretical idea, and it is very costly." -- Fred Brooks, Mythical Man Month (p 122)

-starwed

[edit] References

The article would really need some references/external links. Anyone having some? Cheers - David Björklund 11:21, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Relation with extreme programming

The last paragraph states that "regression testing is an integral part of the extreme programming software development methodology". This is IMO abusive since it is part of many, if not all, of those methodologies. Furthermore, the article about extreme programming does not mention regression testing, which tends to prove my point. Regression testing is merely a software engineering trick that many of us use (whereas all should). - 81.56.146.158 15:58, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

I concur. Extreme or Agile programming has a different view with regards to testing in that it preaches to write tests before implementing features, something which is less common and seldom explicitly preached in other development methods. In other methodologies it's not necessarily discouraged or not practiced; it's just not explict as one of the most import principles. Wouter Lievens 08:06, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

I think that eXtreme Programming preaches to write tests before implementing features for a few reasons. One of those reasons is so that you have a full suite of unit tests to run as a regression test at any time. And I think that the reason for that is because in extreme situations, there can be no tolerance for slippage, or regression. Every update to the code must be a step forward.

Like 81.56.146.158 mentioned, regression testing is a trick that many of us use and most of us should. But I think that eXtreme Programming demands it. Maybe it has more to do with Test Driven Development. And maybe someone should update the eXtreme Programming article to mention regression testing. DRogers 12:28, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Why does this apply only to software?

I hoped to see a definition of regression testing that applied to systems in general, not just software. Is there some reason this definition shouldn't be applied to entire systems, subsystems, and integrated hardware/software units? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 192.45.72.26 (talk • contribs) 23:53, 25 September 2006 (UTC).

Well 192.45.72.26, the best answer I can give is that software people started this article and software people maintain it. Regression testing as applied to software is all I know. If you think that it applies to something else, I encourage you to start an article. DRogers 12:19, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Important questions

The article does not answer 2 important questions:

1. What does the word "regression" in this context mean?
2. And why are the tests called "regression tests"?

I recommend you to read the much better article "Regression Testing" at http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-291252.html by Adam Kolawa

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 195.72.132.1 (talk • contribs) 09:58, 28 March 2007 (UTC1)

[edit] Types of regression

61.95.203.186, I removed your edits. First, I don't think that those are types of regression. Maybe they would belong under the risk mitigation section. And in that case, I think "Complete test suite repetition" and "Partial test repetition based on traceability and analysis of technical and business risks" cover your points. Does anyone disagree? DRogers 12:48, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Added citations and a testing resource

Since this topic is lacking cited content, I added some from Albert Savoia and Kent Beck. Kent Beck is the father of XP and JUnit (although I deliberately avoided making the new content Java-specific and stuck with what would transcend multiple languages). Alberto Savoia has written extensively on unit testing, regression testing, and developer testing.

In order to avoid tying content to any language, I dropped "JUnit Factory" down to the bottom as an external link instead of making it a reference.

Cheers. MickeyWiki (talk) 16:25, 29 November 2007 (UTC)