Exploratory Testing is a skilled multidisciplinary style of testing. Many have learned to apply it on user interfaces that naturally speak to testers as their external imagination. Yet with systems of today, it is important we move that skill of smart thinking with external imagination to interfaces hidden from users – public and private APIs. How can you use exploratory testing on something that does not have a GUI?
Let’s shape up our skills of exploring both the functional and parafunctional aspects of a system through its APIs in their operating environments, without forgetting developer experience of having to maintain and troubleshoot these systems. Let’s learn to be intentional with our APIs, instead of being accidental – through delivering relevant, timely feedback.
Intertwining test automation and exploration, we include considerations of the best for today and for the future. For great testing bringing value now as well as when we are not around, we need to be great at
testing – uncovering relevant information – and
programming – building maintainable test systems. At the core of all of this is
learning. What we lack in a set of skills, we can compensate through
collaboration.
On this course, we are learning these skills hands on testing various interfaces with various tools. It’s a deep dive into applying exploratory testing at computer interface level, not on the tools. The main things you will take out of this session are thinking in terms of coverage, generating versatile ideas on API level, and being aware of opportunity cost to control your own choices as you are testing.
On the side, you will be exposed to ideas such as tools like Postman and Python requests library, to ideas of comparing such as Java Asserts and Approvals, and to approaches such as integration and contract testing. You don’t need to know any of these, but if you do, you’ll still pick up a lot to improve your testing.
Let’s work on code-oriented tests that are not regression oriented but aim at finding new information by means of exploratory testing.
Learning objectives:- Learn to uncover information on API that a typical automation focus would miss
- Uncover how other people think when testing to learn from your peers
- Learn to identify variables (things you can change) on an API or a method signature
- Learn to prioritize your testing efforts for most relevant feedback fast
