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Software Quality

WHAT IS SOFTWARE?

According to Small & Publishing (2018), software can either refer to the operating system (OS) or the application software. The OS is a type of software, which is pre-installed with the computer, that can control how  different applications and different hardware interact together. On the other hand, Small & Publishing claims that applications are  used to provide instructions for computers to do specific tasks.

WHAT IS A SOFTWARE ERROR?

Software errors are flaws found in software that affect its functionality by producing unintended results when running the software (Orakzai, 2023).

WHAT ARE SOFTWARE FAILURES?

Hassanien & Gaber (2017) defines software failures as cases when users feel like the given specification input values do not lead to expected results from the software. Users can classify how severe the failures are based on their impact on the system.

WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF SOFTWARE ERRORS?

Felice (2022) argues that the main causes of software defects are the following:

Inadequate Communication

Software errors may occur when the development team fails to retrieve the exact requirements from the customer.

Inadequate Testing

Oftentimes, not knowing the number of lines from the source code that have been tested can result in an inaccurate assessment of how thorough the software was tested. This measurement is known as the “Code Coverage” and is crucial in preventing software errors.

Other than the code coverage, the “Test Coverage” is also important because it gauges how much of the code the test case covers when they are executed.

Incorrect Testing

Testing frameworks are used for automating test scripts using an execution environment. For this reason, it can be catastrophic to choose an incompatible testing framework.

Lack of an Appropriate Test Reporting System

Test reports are necessary because they assist developers and project managers in differentiating which testing data is valuable and which is not. They summarize testing objectives, activities, and results; hence, not having them can make it difficult to take advantage of the data gathered from testing.

No Proper Defect Management Process

Organizations use defect management to discover defects, remove defects, and to improve their process. If done wrong, the later stage of software development might suffer from greater damage and higher costs engendered by undiscovered defects.

Unrealistic Testing

If the testing procedure does not take account of real-user conditions, the chances of encountering unanticipated errors are increased. Therefore, it is recommended to perform real-user simulation of the software, where real-user conditions are considered.

WHAT ARE CLIENT-DEVELOPER COMMUNICATION FAILURES?

Collecting data about the software requirements is important because it influences the project activities and determines the objectives of the software product (Alvarez et al., 2021). Unfortunately, incorrect or inaccurate requirements can occur, usually, due to client-developer communication failures. This sometimes happens because of the constant changing of requirements that make it difficult to determine  the latest requirements. In addition, customers sometimes fail to provide a clear idea of their needs.

WHAT ARE LOGICAL DESIGN ERRORS?

Verma (2023) states that logical design errors are a type of error that does not crash the program despite failing to give the desired result.

WHAT ARE CODING ERRORS?

Coding errors, or syntax errors, are flaws in the structure of the source code that prevent the application from running (Jain, 2023).

WHAT ARE THE SHORTCOMINGS OF THE TESTING PROCESS?

Although testing is a necessary step to creating high quality software, there are many challenges that can make them difficult. (Reddy, 2022) provides the following as examples of challenges faced in software testing.

WHAT ARE USER INTERFACE AND PROCEDURE ERRORS?

According to Sommerville (2004), the user interface design must be based on the user and their skills and expectations. Bad design can make users abandon the software. For this reason, user interface errors may refer to a bad user interface design, where it does not take account of the user’s capabilities and limitations, and making the user prone to mistakes or unintended actions.

WHAT ARE DOCUMENTATION ERRORS?

A summary of the common documentation errors found in Macieszko (2023) are as follows:

WHAT IS SOFTWARE QUALITY?

Software quality refers to the component in software development that describes and measures how well the software meets the requirements, and the user satisfaction (What Is Software Quality? And How to Achieve It?, 2023). This is judged under standards such as the software product’s reliability, security, and usability.

WHAT IS SOFTWARE QUALITY ASSURANCE?

Software quality assurance is a quality management approach that guarantees that software standards are met and all procedures were implemented properly (What Is Software Quality Assurance, 2021). It uses a strategy that consists of multiple tests and technical reviews to ensure that the software complies with the requirements.

What Are the Objectives of SQA Activities in Software Development?

The following are objectives of SQA activities (Rani, 2023; What Is Software Quality Assurance, 2021):

REFERENCES

  1. Alvarez, S., Duy, K., Zapata, M., Galarza, J., Martínez, D., & Puco, C. (2021). The Communication Between Client-Developer in the Process of Requirements Elicitation for a Software Project (pp. 36–45).
  2. Felice, S. (2022, December 9). 7 Root Causes for Software Defects and its Solutions. BrowserStack. https://browserstack.wpengine.com/guide/root-causes-for-software-defects-and-its-solutions/
  3. Hassanien, A. E., & Gaber, T. (Eds.). (2017). Handbook of Research on Machine Learning Innovations and Trends: IGI Global. http://services.igi-global.com/resolvedoi/resolve.aspx?doi=10.4018/978-1-5225-2229-4
  4. Jain, S. (2023, January 4). The 5 most common types of errors in programming and how to avoid them. https://oslash.com/blog/the-5-most-common-types-of-errors-in-programming-and-how-to-avoid-them
  5. Macieszko, Z. (2023, December 15). Documentation errors and how to avoid them. Z3x. https://z3x.io/documentation-errors-and-how-to-avoid-them/
  6. Orakzai, R. U. (2023, August 7). Software Testing: Defect, Bug, Error, and Failure | Baeldung on Computer Science. https://www.baeldung.com/cs/software-testing-defect-bug-error-and-failure
  7. Rani, P. (2023, March 30). What are Quality Assurance Objectives? QA World. https://qa.world/what-are-quality-assurance-objectives/
  8. Reddy, G. C. (2022, July 17). Challenges in Software Testing. Software Testing. https://www.gcreddy.com/2022/07/challenges-in-software-testing.html
  9. Small, C., & Publishing, B. E. (2018). What Are Hardware and Software?. Britannica Educational Publishing.
  10. Sommerville, I. (2004). User interface design. Software Engineering, 7th edition. Chapter 16. https://ifs.host.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Books/SE7/Presentations/PDF/ch16.pdf
  11. Verma, A. (2023, March 27). C Sharp are the three main types of errors? https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/c-sharp-9-what-three-main-types-errors-anshu-verma
  12. What is Software Quality? And How to achieve it? (2023, November 29). Testbytes. https://www.testbytes.net/blog/what-is-software-quality/
  13. What Is Software Quality Assurance: Definition, Benefits, and Top Techniques Explained. (2021, April 27). Simplilearn.Com. https://www.simplilearn.com/software-quality-assurance-article

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