herrold - quality assurance

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quality assurance

IEEE Standard 12207 defines QA this way:
The quality assurance process is a process for

providing adequate assurance that
the software products and processes
in the product life cycle
conform to their specific requirements
and adhere to their established plans.

-- ACM article

Too Darn Big to Test - (local PDF)

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Other Logical reasoning fallacies:

Denying the Antecedent:
If A, then B; not A; therefore, not B If low coverage, then poor tests; not low coverage; therefore, not poor tests
Asserting the Consequent:
If p, then q; q; therefore, p If good tests, then high coverage; high coverage; therefore, good tests

-- after: Good Design, Good Static Checking, and Good Unit Testing, Keith Stobie

Quality Assurance: Much More than Testing
From the article:

What goes into QA? Testing, of course, is a key activity. There is, however, an adage that ?you can?t test quality into a product.? A solid test plan should catch errors and give a measure of quality. A good QA plan ensures that the design is appropriate, the implementation is careful, and the product meets all requirements before release. An excellent QA plan in an advanced organization includes analysis of defects and continuous improvement. (This feedback loop is characteristic of mature organizations.)

- - Stuart Feldman (make, fortran77, Unix development)