[TFUI] What to automate - simple tests or complex tests

"Stephan Meyn" <smeyn-jG/[email protected]> Tue, 27 May 2008 05:37:34 -0000
Newsgroups gmane.comp.programming.test-first-user-interfaces
Message-ID <[email protected]>
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Just a question to the group - if you are looking to start automating
testing, you may not have the opportunity to invest in automating all
you would like to test. So you look what kind of tests you'd want to
invest in to optimize the benefits vs effort.=20

So would you rather automate
1) simple tests, such as testing all the navigation works, or
2) complex test cases, such as processing a withdrawal of a payment
from a superannuation account

1) would give you the ability to create a large number of small test
cases, which could then be run after a build as a smoke test. Catches
errors before the test team gets involved

2) automates stuff that are error prone to do manually. But it
requires more effort to build and so you would create less tests with
the same budget.

given the two choices, which way would you go?

Stephan


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            <p>Just a question to the group - if you are looking to start automating<br>
testing, you may not have the opportunity to invest in automating all<br>
you would like to test. So you look what kind of tests you'd want to<br>
invest in to optimize the benefits vs effort. <br>
<br>
So would you rather automate<br>
1) simple tests, such as testing all the navigation works, or<br>
2) complex test cases, such as processing a withdrawal of a payment<br>
from a superannuation account<br>
<br>
1) would give you the ability to create a large number of small test<br>
cases, which could then be run after a build as a smoke test. Catches<br>
errors before the test team gets involved<br>
<br>
2) automates stuff that are error prone to do manually. But it<br>
requires more effort to build and so you would create less tests with<br>
the same budget.<br>
<br>
given the two choices, which way would you go?<br>
<br>
Stephan<br>
<br>
</p>
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