Computer programming | Software testing | Hardware testing | White-Box-Test | 白盒测试 White box testing, clear box testing, glass box testing or structural testing is used in computer programming, software engineering and software testing to check that the outputs of a program, given certain inputs, conform to the structural specification of the program. In electrical hardware testing every node in a circuit may be probed and measured, an example is In circuit test (ICT).

The term white box (or glass box) indicates that testing is done with a knowledge of the code used to execute certain functionality. For this reason, a programmer is usually required to perform white box tests. Often, multiple programmers will write tests based on certain code, so as to gain varying perspectives on possible outcomes.

With extensive knowledge of internal workings changing the design often results in breaking the test. For example ICT needs updates if component values change, and needs modified/new fixture if the circuit changes. This adds financial resistance to the change process, thus buggy products may stay buggy. Automated optical inspection (AOI) offers similar component level correctness checking without the cost of ICT fixtures, however changes still require test updates.

A complementary technique, black box testing or functional testing, performs testing based on previously understood requirements (or understood functionality), without knowledge of how the code executes.

External links

• http://www.testing-post.com
• White Box Testing Strategy
• Glass Box Testing by Crista Risley
• White-Box testing in correlation to other testing