Ннааа ещё:
For example, we make a big deal about testing and checking. We define checking as “the process of making evaluations by applying algorithmic decision rules to specific observations of a product” (and a check is an instance of checking). We define testing as “the process of evaluating a product by learning about it through exploration and experimentation, which includes to some degree: questioning, study, modeling, observation, inference, etc.” (and a test is an instance of testing).
This is in contrast with the ISTQB, which in its Glossary defines “test” as “a set of test cases”—along with “test case” as “a set of input values, execution preconditions, expected results and execution postconditions, developed for a particular objective or test condition, such as to exercise a particular program path or to verify compliance with a specific requirement.”
Interesting, isn’t it: the ISTQB’s definition of test looks a lot like our definition of check. In Rapid Software Testing, we prefer to put learning and experimentation (rather than satisfying requirements and demonstrating fitness for purpose) at the centre of testing. We prefer to think of a test as something that people do as an act of investigation; as a performance, not as an artifact.