What is an API? What does the term SaaS mean? What is continuous integration used for? Don't panic— Mr Suricate here to explain the various terms used in the worlds of testing, coding, and AI.
Assert: A test to verify whether a rule is true or false (example: a given element contains a given word). If it is true, the scenario continues; if it is false, the scenario fails.
API (Application Programming Interface): Iinterface that allows a program to be queried via web requests instead of a graphical user interface
Test campaign: The simultaneous automatic execution of multiple scenarios.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets): A campaign that runs multiple scenarios and provides an overall results report rather than a report for each individual scenario.
CMS (Content Management System): A family of software programs designed for the creation and dynamic updating of websites or multimedia applications.
HTTP code: AA web server always responds to an HTTP/HTTPS request from a browser by including a status code in the response. Depending on the value of this code, the web server’s response can be interpreted (error for codes in the 400 and 500 ranges).
Deployment: Deployment of a deliverable (fix, new feature) to a target environment (pre-production, production, etc.).
Environment: An environment refers to the context in which software runs; it includes all the resources (hardware, software) necessary for its execution. In practice, the following types of environments are commonly encountered:
– Production: the version used by end users
– pre-production: identical to the production environment; used to validate a new version
– Development: used by developers to test their code
– Integration: used to verify that the various components of a software application work well together
False positives: In practice, in cases where the result is used to issue a warning (alarm, virus detection, etc.), a false positive is a false alarm.
HTAccess: A tool for configuring various settings related to client access to a server.
ID: An identifier used to uniquely identify a resource (a user, a client, a scenario, etc.)
Continuous Integration: Continuous integration (CI) is a development method designed to fix bugs more quickly, improve code quality, and reduce the time required to validate and release new software updates. This practice typically involves creating an automated workflow that integrates the testing and deployment phases.
Iframe: Continuous integration involves continuously integrating changes made to the source code of a software project in order to immediately detect and correct any errors.
Production Deployment: Deployment of a new version of software, a website, etc., to a production environment.
IT Operations: IT operations encompass all the methods and skills necessary to maintain an operational infrastructure; its goal is to ensure that the infrastructure can support all operational activities.
Pre-production: The stage preceding the launch (i.e., full availability) of a service or product. It is essentially a beta-testing phase; during pre-production, the product is not used—or is only partially used—by the customer so that when the system is switched over (for example, in the case of an architecture change), there are no major issues to report.
Rollback: Literally “reverse.” A procedure generally used when a production deployment does not go as planned; it restores the production environment to the same state it was in before the (restoring a database backup, etc.).
Request: A request is a query sent to a server. The server provides a response based on the parameters of that request. This term is generally used to refer to a request sent to a web server or a database.
Setup: The setup/configuration phase following a customer request. In the context of Mr Suricate involves creating scenarios.
SaaS (Software as a Service): Allows companies to subscribe to remote software (web access via the Internet) instead of purchasing and installing it in-house.
End-to-end testing (or system testing): Testing a complete integrated system to verify that all integrated components function in the final environment across targeted user flows.
Component testing: Testing an individual element or feature within the user flow. Most often, these tests are performed in a mock environment where the feature can be accessed.
Functional testing: Testing the implemented functionality based on descriptive documents (specifications or user stories) to validate that the behavior conforms to expectations without accessing the code.
Non-functional testing: Testing the implementedfunctionality based on tests unrelated to an element’s features (e.g., security, performance, load, and usability tests).
Timeout: When a request is sent, if no response is received within a maximum time limit, the request will fail due to exceeding the maximum time limit—this is known as a “timeout.”
TNR (Non-Regression Testing): A test used when a new version is released to verify that the changes made have not affected previously existing functionality.
UAT: Acronym for User Acceptance Test. Refers to the phase in which end users validate software to verify that the product meets the initial requirements.
