Domain Testing: Divide and Conquer - Testing Education

There are two general approaches to doing testing- ‘white-box’ testing and
‘black-box’ testing.
1.02.02 White -Box Testing Approach
In this testing approach, the program under test is treated as a white box or a glass
box, something you can see through (Kaner, Falk & Nguyen, 1999; Myers, 1979).
According to Myers (1979), this approach can also be called a logic-driven testing
approach in which the tester does testing based on the internal structure of the
program, usually ignoring the specifications. This approach is also known as
structural testing or glass-box testing. IEEE Std. 610.12 (1990) defined structural,
glass-box or white-box testing as “Testing that takes into account the internal
mechanism of a system or component” (p. 71).
1.02.03 Black-Box Testing Approach
In this testing approach, the program under test is treated as a black box, something
you cannot see through (Kaner et al., 1999; Myers, 1979). A black-box tester is
unconcerned with the internals of the program (Howden, 1980a; Myers, 1979;
Podgurski & Yang, 1993) and tests the program using the specifications of the
program (Myers, 1979). Black-box testing has been defined by IEEE Std. 610.12
(1990) as “(1) Testing that ignores the internal mechanism of a system or
component and focuses solely on the outputs generated in response to selected
inputs and execution conditions” (p. 35). Specification can be defined as “A
document that specifies, in a complete, precise, verifiable manner, the
characteristics of a system or component, and, often, the procedures for
determining whether these provisions have been satisfied” (IEEE Std. 610.12,
1990, p. 69).
According to Myers (1979), the black-box testing approach can also be
called a data-driven or input/output-driven testing approach since black-box testers
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