{ "model": { "rank": 7312, "code": "thing-q188522", "model_id": "vr.tr.software-testing", "name": "software testing", "purpose": "Let an agent explain software testing and its levels and types, relay methods, tools and standards from software engineering references, describe how testing fits into development processes, and distinguish testing from debugging, quality assurance in general and formal verification.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Activities and processes", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "ACT", "domain": "ACT.ACT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q188522/", "tier": 2, "score": 56, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "software performance testing", "A/B testing", "load testing", "destructive software testing", "soak testing", "functional testing", "non-functional testing", "white-box testing", "fuzzing", "Test Automation Pyramid", "Test", "dry run", "model-based testing", "beta test", "installation testing", "keyword-driven testing", "smoke testing", "random testing", "Classification Tree Method", "all-pairs testing", "data combination test", "boundary-value analysis", "continuous testing", "Shift left testing", "Monkey testing", "API testing", "software testing tactics", "scenario testing", "mutation testing", "dynamic testing", "compatibility testing", "build verification test", "characterization test", "cloud testing", "software alpha testing", "gamma testing", "data-driven testing", "database testing", "Development Testing", "Exploratory testing" ], "aliasCount": 61, "merged": 61, "knownIn": 56, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q188522", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q188522", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T05:36:56Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 3, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q188522", "registryId": "vr.tr.software-testing", "name": "software testing", "version": "0.2.0-wave.3", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "ACT.ACT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q188522/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.software-testing", "name": "software testing", "purpose": "Let an agent explain software testing and its levels and types, relay methods, tools and standards from software engineering references, describe how testing fits into development processes, and distinguish testing from debugging, quality assurance in general and formal verification.", "definition": "The process of evaluating software to find defects and verify that it meets requirements, by executing it under controlled conditions and examining its behaviour, at levels from unit and integration to system and acceptance testing, in types such as functional testing, performance and load testing, soak testing over long periods, destructive testing under abnormal inputs, security and usability testing, and experimental methods such as A/B testing of variants with users; testing is manual or automated and integrated into development pipelines.", "what_it_is_for": "Finding defects and verifying software.", "affordances": [ "explain levels and types", "relay methods and tools", "describe process integration", "distinguish related activities" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Execution-based", "Levels and types", "Manual and automated", "Pipeline integration" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; test cases, results and reports.", "visual_identification": [ "Evaluating software by execution", "Functional, performance, load, soak, destructive and A/B testing; unit, integration, system and acceptance levels", "Debugging fixes defects; quality assurance covers processes; formal verification proves properties" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "standard", "typical_range": "ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119", "unit": "note", "note": "software testing" }, { "quantity": "common frameworks", "typical_range": "JUnit, pytest, Selenium, JMeter", "unit": "list", "note": "" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "unit, integration, system and acceptance testing", "functional and regression testing", "performance, load, stress and soak testing", "destructive, fuzz and security testing", "usability and accessibility testing", "A/B testing and experimentation", "test automation and continuous testing" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "product testing", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "test", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is part of", "target": "software development process", "why": "and quality assurance" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "debugging", "why": "which locates and fixes defects" } ], "identifiers": [ { "scheme": "ISO", "value_or_pattern": "29119", "note": "software testing standard" } ], "standards_and_regulation": [ "ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119", "Domain regulations requiring testing such as DO-178C and IEC 62304", "ISTQB certification syllabi" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Inadequate coverage", "Flaky automated tests", "Confusing testing with quality assurance or verification", "A/B testing without ethical review" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What software testing is.", "rationale": "Definition.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is software testing, and how does it differ from debugging, quality assurance and formal verification?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about testing in general, a level, a type or a tool?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "types", "name": "Types", "description": "Levels and types.", "findings": [ { "id": "types-finding", "name": "Types", "description": "Types.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do unit, integration, system and acceptance levels and functional, performance, load, soak, destructive and A/B types differ?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific type?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "practice", "name": "Practice", "description": "Practice.", "rationale": "Practice.", "layers": [ { "id": "design", "name": "Design", "description": "Test design.", "findings": [ { "id": "design-finding", "name": "Design", "description": "Design.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are test cases designed using techniques such as equivalence partitioning, boundary analysis and coverage?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "automation", "name": "Automation", "description": "Automation.", "findings": [ { "id": "automation-finding", "name": "Automation", "description": "Automation.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are tests automated and run in continuous integration pipelines?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "process", "name": "Process", "description": "Process and roles.", "rationale": "Regulation.", "layers": [ { "id": "process", "name": "Process", "description": "Testing in development.", "findings": [ { "id": "process-finding", "name": "Process", "description": "Process.", "questions": [ { "text": "How does testing fit into agile, DevOps and regulated development processes?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits continuous integration?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "standards", "name": "Standards", "description": "Standards and certification.", "findings": [ { "id": "standards-finding", "name": "Standards", "description": "Standards.", "questions": [ { "text": "What do ISO 29119 and domain standards require, and what certifications exist for testers?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits ISTQB?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Debates and history.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "debates", "name": "Debates", "description": "Debates.", "findings": [ { "id": "debates-finding", "name": "Debates", "description": "Debates.", "questions": [ { "text": "What debates exist about testing standards, coverage metrics and A/B testing ethics, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did software testing develop from debugging to a discipline?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the history of software engineering?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should unit testing and A/B testing be separate primary entries?", "How should software engineering references be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming types; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a software testing, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain software testing and its levels and types, relay methods, tools and standards from software engineering references, describe how testing fits into development processes, and distinguish testing from debugging, quality assurance in general and formal verification.", "characteristics": { "substance": "activity", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: software performance testing, A/B testing, load testing, destructive software testing, soak testing, functional testing, non-functional testing, white-box testing, fuzzing, Test Automation Pyramid, Test, dry run.", "61 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 56 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a software testing, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "something that happens over time", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "software performance testing", "A/B testing", "load testing", "destructive software testing", "soak testing", "functional testing", "non-functional testing", "white-box testing", "fuzzing", "Test Automation Pyramid", "Test", "dry run" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 56 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 61 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one software testing from another, and a software testing from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a software testing, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a software testing, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a software testing is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a software testing, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a software testing, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a software testing is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a software testing sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a software testing, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a software testing, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a software testing is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a software testing from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a software testing, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a software testing, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a software testing is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a software testing passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a software testing between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a software testing, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a software testing, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a software testing is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a software testing, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a software testing is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a software testing, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a software testing, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a software testing is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "process-and-outcome", "name": "Process, inputs and outcome", "description": "How a software testing proceeds, what it needs and what it leaves behind.", "rationale": "An activity is known by its steps and its results, and both have to be recordable while it is still running.", "layers": [ { "id": "steps-and-sequence", "name": "Steps and sequence", "description": "The steps of a software testing, their order and what may run in parallel.", "findings": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions", "name": "Steps, preconditions and completion", "description": "What has to be true before each step of a software testing and what marks it done.", "questions": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a step of a software testing, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a step of a software testing, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a step of a software testing is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-results", "name": "Inputs, resources and results", "description": "What a software testing consumes and what it produces.", "findings": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs", "name": "Inputs, outputs and side effects", "description": "The resources a software testing takes and the results it leaves, wanted or not.", "questions": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the inputs and results of a software testing, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the inputs and results of a software testing, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the inputs and results of a software testing is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What software testing is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of software testing are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is software testing operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of software testing and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of software testing?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as software testing?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a software testing came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a software testing and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a software testing, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a software testing, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a software testing is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a software testing is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a software testing, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a software testing, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a software testing is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }