Monday, July 13, 2009

More than One Right Way

In testing, we often focus on there being one right way to do something. This may be known as the "happy path" where you know a particular test scenario works when all the input parameters are exactly right. Then we charge off the happy path into the dark unknown, where we expect to find bugs. But as this Lifehacker post reminded me, sometimes there's more than one right way to do something.

This video (http://lifehacker.com/5311002/open-a-banana-like-a-monkey) shows how to open a banana from the bottom. This was a bit of a shock to me, as I've been using the stem of a banana like a pull tab my whole life. It's actually easier & cleaner to do the method shown in the vid. Either approach works, but they're both right.

When you're creating your test plans, take a few minutes and think about how many happy paths may exist. They'll help you create more thorough test cases and help you uncover more interesting bugs.

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