对待测试工具的原则

The principal attributes of tools and automation are

·         Speed. Think about how long it would take you to manually try a few thousand test cases for the Windows Calculator. You might average a test case every five seconds or so. Automation might be able to run 10, 100, even 1000 times that fast.

测试的速度。

 

·         Efficiency. While you're busy running test cases, you can't be doing anything else. If you have a test tool that reduces the time it takes for you to run your tests, you have more time for test planning and thinking up new tests.

测试的效率。

 

·         Accuracy and Precision. After trying a few hundred cases, your attention span will wane and you'll start to make mistakes. A test tool will perform the same test and check the results perfectly, each and every time.

测试的精确度。

 

·         Resource Reduction. Sometimes it can be physically impossible to perform a certain test case. The number of people or the amount of equipment required to create the test condition could be prohibitive. A test tool can be used to simulate the real world and greatly reduce the physical resources necessary to perform the testing.

降低测试资源。

 

·         Simulation and Emulation. Test tools are often used to replace hardware or software that would normally interface to your product. This "fake" device or application can then be used to drive or respond to your software in ways that you choose and ways that might otherwise be difficult to achieve.

测试环境的模拟。

 

·         Relentlessness. Test tools and automation never tire or give up. They're like that battery-operated bunny of the TV commercials they can keep going and going and…

测试疲劳的问题。

 

All this probably sounds like great news. You could have test tools do all the work for you turn them loose and wait for the results. Unfortunately, it's not that easy. Houses aren't built automatically, even though carpenters have power saws and nail guns. The tools just make it easier for them to do their work and for the resulting work to be of higher quality. Software test tools operate the same way.

 

我们的木匠有电锯和钉枪，但是房子也不可能因此而自动建成的，工具只是让他们干起活来更轻松点、干出的活儿有更高的质量而已。我们使用软件测试工具也是一样的道理。