Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | FSE 2014: Proceedings of the 22nd ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Foundations of Software Engineering |
| Publisher | Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) |
| Pages | 30-40 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| ISBN (electronic) | 9781450330565 |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |
| Event | 22nd ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering, FSE 2014 - Hong Kong, China Duration: 16 Nov 2014 → 21 Nov 2014 |
Publication series
| Name | Proceedings of the ACM SIGSOFT Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering |
|---|---|
| Volume | 16-21-November-2014 |
Abstract
There are many different approaches to testing software, with different benefits for software quality and the development process. Yet, it is not well understood what developers struggle with when getting started with testing|and why some do not test at all or not as much as would be good for their project. This missing understanding keeps us from improving processes and tools to help novices adopt proper testing practices. We conducted a qualitative study with 97 computer science students. Through interviews, we explored their experiences and attitudes regarding testing in a collaborative software project. We found enabling and inhibiting factors for testing activities, the different testing strategies they used, and novices' perceptions and attitudes of testing. Students push test automation to the end of the project, thus robbing themselves from the advantages of having a test suite during implementation. Students were not convinced of the return of investment in automated tests and opted for laborious manual tests|which they often regretted in the end. Understanding such challenges and opportunities novices face when confronted with adopting testing can help us improve testing processes, company policies, and tools. Our findings provide recommendations that can enable organizations to facilitate the adoption of testing practices by their members.
Keywords
- Adoption, Enablers, Inhibitors, Motivation, Testing
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Computer Science(all)
- Software
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FSE 2014: Proceedings of the 22nd ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Foundations of Software Engineering. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2014. p. 30-40 (Proceedings of the ACM SIGSOFT Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering; Vol. 16-21-November-2014).
Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Research › peer review
}
TY - GEN
T1 - Enablers, inhibitors, and perceptions of testing in novice software teams
AU - Pham, Raphael
AU - Kiesling, Stephan
AU - Liskin, Olga
AU - Singer, Leif
AU - Schneider, Kurt
N1 - Publisher Copyright: Copyright 2014 ACM.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - There are many different approaches to testing software, with different benefits for software quality and the development process. Yet, it is not well understood what developers struggle with when getting started with testing|and why some do not test at all or not as much as would be good for their project. This missing understanding keeps us from improving processes and tools to help novices adopt proper testing practices. We conducted a qualitative study with 97 computer science students. Through interviews, we explored their experiences and attitudes regarding testing in a collaborative software project. We found enabling and inhibiting factors for testing activities, the different testing strategies they used, and novices' perceptions and attitudes of testing. Students push test automation to the end of the project, thus robbing themselves from the advantages of having a test suite during implementation. Students were not convinced of the return of investment in automated tests and opted for laborious manual tests|which they often regretted in the end. Understanding such challenges and opportunities novices face when confronted with adopting testing can help us improve testing processes, company policies, and tools. Our findings provide recommendations that can enable organizations to facilitate the adoption of testing practices by their members.
AB - There are many different approaches to testing software, with different benefits for software quality and the development process. Yet, it is not well understood what developers struggle with when getting started with testing|and why some do not test at all or not as much as would be good for their project. This missing understanding keeps us from improving processes and tools to help novices adopt proper testing practices. We conducted a qualitative study with 97 computer science students. Through interviews, we explored their experiences and attitudes regarding testing in a collaborative software project. We found enabling and inhibiting factors for testing activities, the different testing strategies they used, and novices' perceptions and attitudes of testing. Students push test automation to the end of the project, thus robbing themselves from the advantages of having a test suite during implementation. Students were not convinced of the return of investment in automated tests and opted for laborious manual tests|which they often regretted in the end. Understanding such challenges and opportunities novices face when confronted with adopting testing can help us improve testing processes, company policies, and tools. Our findings provide recommendations that can enable organizations to facilitate the adoption of testing practices by their members.
KW - Adoption
KW - Enablers
KW - Inhibitors
KW - Motivation
KW - Testing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84986879753&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/2635868.2635925
DO - 10.1145/2635868.2635925
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84986879753
T3 - Proceedings of the ACM SIGSOFT Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering
SP - 30
EP - 40
BT - FSE 2014: Proceedings of the 22nd ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Foundations of Software Engineering
PB - Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
T2 - 22nd ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering, FSE 2014
Y2 - 16 November 2014 through 21 November 2014
ER -