Testing Blog

The Plague of Entropy

Monday, September 14, 2009
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook
Google
Labels: James Whittaker

4 comments :

  1. Simon MorleySeptember 14, 2009 at 1:06:00 PM PDT

    Interesting post!

    I had intended to submit an entropy post, but never finished it...

    There are other ways that entropy in the test process can exist:

    When we model a system (maybe to develop use cases or other test design purposes) then entropy is introduced.

    Our model has "reduced" the system - ie we've thrown away information or created uncertainty.

    We can help to alleviate this by other test design techniques such as exploratory testing.

    But where we have made assumptions about the system (or really used a model for the test design) then we've increased the amount of entropy in the process.

    There's a balance between trying to model the system accurately to achieve higher accuracy in the test design and using the model as a tool for the test design (good enough modelling.)

    Not an easy balancing act!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
      Reply
  2. gutzoftSeptember 14, 2009 at 1:50:00 PM PDT

    It isn't till you start testing that you can identify some or all the events.

    Good Post

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
      Reply
  3. UnknownSeptember 18, 2009 at 12:12:00 AM PDT

    I think that, ultimately, the vast majority of entropy is introduced by the developers themselves: some of it is due to bugs but a significant part is due to new/changed functionality that cross cuts multiple existing modules, etc.

    Either way, we can't do much about it. Bugs are an inevitable by product of development, and so is adding functionality. Thus, automated testing is a mechanism for reducing the marginal entropy. A test suite will prevent the new code from inadvertently breaking existing code (increasing the entropy)

    Bottom line: Programmers are mass producers of entropy. Testing helps us manage it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
      Reply
  4. bvienneauMarch 3, 2010 at 7:45:00 AM PST

    Somewhat related, do you feel that if you discover more bugs early in the process that there is a higher chance that there are more.

    Or do you feel that if 0 or few bugs are found that the risk is higher?

    Another related question, do you find that the number of bugs stay close to an average over time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
      Reply
Add comment
Load more...

The comments you read and contribute here belong only to the person who posted them. We reserve the right to remove off-topic comments.

  

Labels


  • TotT 77
  • GTAC 61
  • James Whittaker 42
  • Misko Hevery 32
  • Anthony Vallone 27
  • Patrick Copeland 23
  • Jobs 18
  • Code Health 13
  • C++ 11
  • Andrew Trenk 10
  • Patrik Höglund 8
  • JavaScript 7
  • Allen Hutchison 6
  • George Pirocanac 6
  • Zhanyong Wan 6
  • Harry Robinson 5
  • Java 5
  • Julian Harty 5
  • Alberto Savoia 4
  • Ben Yu 4
  • Erik Kuefler 4
  • Philip Zembrod 4
  • Shyam Seshadri 4
  • Chrome 3
  • John Thomas 3
  • Lesley Katzen 3
  • Marc Kaplan 3
  • Markus Clermont 3
  • Sonal Shah 3
  • APIs 2
  • Abhishek Arya 2
  • Adam Bender 2
  • Alan Myrvold 2
  • Alek Icev 2
  • Android 2
  • April Fools 2
  • Chaitali Narla 2
  • Chris Lewis 2
  • Chrome OS 2
  • Diego Salas 2
  • Dillon Bly 2
  • Dori Reuveni 2
  • Jason Arbon 2
  • Jochen Wuttke 2
  • Kostya Serebryany 2
  • Marc Eaddy 2
  • Marko Ivanković 2
  • Max Kanat-Alexander 2
  • Mobile 2
  • Oliver Chang 2
  • Simon Stewart 2
  • Stefan Kennedy 2
  • Test Flakiness 2
  • Tony Voellm 2
  • WebRTC 2
  • Yvette Nameth 2
  • Zuri Kemp 2
  • Aaron Jacobs 1
  • Adam Porter 1
  • Adel Saoud 1
  • Alan Faulkner 1
  • Alex Eagle 1
  • Anantha Keesara 1
  • Antoine Picard 1
  • App Engine 1
  • Ari Shamash 1
  • Arif Sukoco 1
  • Benjamin Pick 1
  • Bob Nystrom 1
  • Bruce Leban 1
  • Carlos Arguelles 1
  • Carlos Israel Ortiz García 1
  • Cathal Weakliam 1
  • Christopher Semturs 1
  • Clay Murphy 1
  • Dan Shi 1
  • Dan Willemsen 1
  • Dave Chen 1
  • Dave Gladfelter 1
  • Derek Snyder 1
  • Diego Cavalcanti 1
  • Dmitry Vyukov 1
  • Eduardo Bravo Ortiz 1
  • Ekaterina Kamenskaya 1
  • Elliott Karpilovsky 1
  • Espresso 1
  • Google+ 1
  • Goran Petrovic 1
  • Goranka Bjedov 1
  • Hank Duan 1
  • Havard Rast Blok 1
  • Hongfei Ding 1
  • Jason Elbaum 1
  • Jason Huggins 1
  • Jay Han 1
  • Jeff Listfield 1
  • Jessica Tomechak 1
  • Jim Reardon 1
  • Joe Allan Muharsky 1
  • Joel Hynoski 1
  • John Micco 1
  • John Penix 1
  • Jonathan Rockway 1
  • Jonathan Velasquez 1
  • Josh Armour 1
  • Julie Ralph 1
  • Karin Lundberg 1
  • Kaue Silveira 1
  • Kevin Bourrillion 1
  • Kevin Graney 1
  • Kirkland 1
  • Kurt Alfred Kluever 1
  • Manjusha Parvathaneni 1
  • Marek Kiszkis 1
  • Mark Ivey 1
  • Mark Striebeck 1
  • Matt Lowrie 1
  • Meredith Whittaker 1
  • Michael Bachman 1
  • Michael Klepikov 1
  • Mike Aizatsky 1
  • Mike Wacker 1
  • Mona El Mahdy 1
  • Noel Yap 1
  • Patricia Legaspi 1
  • Peter Arrenbrecht 1
  • Peter Spragins 1
  • Phil Rollet 1
  • Pooja Gupta 1
  • Project Showcase 1
  • Radoslav Vasilev 1
  • Rajat Dewan 1
  • Rajat Jain 1
  • Rich Martin 1
  • Richard Bustamante 1
  • Roshan Sembacuttiaratchy 1
  • Ruslan Khamitov 1
  • Sean Jordan 1
  • Sharon Zhou 1
  • Siddartha Janga 1
  • Simran Basi 1
  • Stephen Ng 1
  • Tejas Shah 1
  • Test Analytics 1
  • Test Engineer 1
  • Tom O'Neill 1
  • Vojta Jína 1
  • iOS 1
  • mutation testing 1


Archive


  • ►  2022 (2)
    • ►  Feb (2)
  • ►  2021 (3)
    • ►  Jun (1)
    • ►  Apr (1)
    • ►  Mar (1)
  • ►  2020 (8)
    • ►  Dec (2)
    • ►  Nov (1)
    • ►  Oct (1)
    • ►  Aug (2)
    • ►  Jul (1)
    • ►  May (1)
  • ►  2019 (4)
    • ►  Dec (1)
    • ►  Nov (1)
    • ►  Jul (1)
    • ►  Jan (1)
  • ►  2018 (7)
    • ►  Nov (1)
    • ►  Sep (1)
    • ►  Jul (1)
    • ►  Jun (2)
    • ►  May (1)
    • ►  Feb (1)
  • ►  2017 (17)
    • ►  Dec (1)
    • ►  Nov (1)
    • ►  Oct (1)
    • ►  Sep (1)
    • ►  Aug (1)
    • ►  Jul (2)
    • ►  Jun (2)
    • ►  May (3)
    • ►  Apr (2)
    • ►  Feb (1)
    • ►  Jan (2)
  • ►  2016 (15)
    • ►  Dec (1)
    • ►  Nov (2)
    • ►  Oct (1)
    • ►  Sep (2)
    • ►  Aug (1)
    • ►  Jun (2)
    • ►  May (3)
    • ►  Apr (1)
    • ►  Mar (1)
    • ►  Feb (1)
  • ►  2015 (14)
    • ►  Dec (1)
    • ►  Nov (1)
    • ►  Oct (2)
    • ►  Aug (1)
    • ►  Jun (1)
    • ►  May (2)
    • ►  Apr (2)
    • ►  Mar (1)
    • ►  Feb (1)
    • ►  Jan (2)
  • ►  2014 (24)
    • ►  Dec (2)
    • ►  Nov (1)
    • ►  Oct (2)
    • ►  Sep (2)
    • ►  Aug (2)
    • ►  Jul (3)
    • ►  Jun (3)
    • ►  May (2)
    • ►  Apr (2)
    • ►  Mar (2)
    • ►  Feb (1)
    • ►  Jan (2)
  • ►  2013 (16)
    • ►  Dec (1)
    • ►  Nov (1)
    • ►  Oct (1)
    • ►  Aug (2)
    • ►  Jul (1)
    • ►  Jun (2)
    • ►  May (2)
    • ►  Apr (2)
    • ►  Mar (2)
    • ►  Jan (2)
  • ►  2012 (11)
    • ►  Dec (1)
    • ►  Nov (2)
    • ►  Oct (3)
    • ►  Sep (1)
    • ►  Aug (4)
  • ►  2011 (39)
    • ►  Nov (2)
    • ►  Oct (5)
    • ►  Sep (2)
    • ►  Aug (4)
    • ►  Jul (2)
    • ►  Jun (5)
    • ►  May (4)
    • ►  Apr (3)
    • ►  Mar (4)
    • ►  Feb (5)
    • ►  Jan (3)
  • ►  2010 (37)
    • ►  Dec (3)
    • ►  Nov (3)
    • ►  Oct (4)
    • ►  Sep (8)
    • ►  Aug (3)
    • ►  Jul (3)
    • ►  Jun (2)
    • ►  May (2)
    • ►  Apr (3)
    • ►  Mar (3)
    • ►  Feb (2)
    • ►  Jan (1)
  • ▼  2009 (54)
    • ►  Dec (3)
    • ►  Nov (2)
    • ►  Oct (3)
    • ▼  Sep (5)
      • TotT: Literate Testing With Matchers
      • Checked exceptions I love you, but you have to go
      • The Plague of Entropy
      • It is not about writing tests, its about writing s...
      • The 7th Plague and Beyond
    • ►  Aug (4)
    • ►  Jul (15)
    • ►  Jun (8)
    • ►  May (3)
    • ►  Apr (2)
    • ►  Feb (5)
    • ►  Jan (4)
  • ►  2008 (75)
    • ►  Dec (6)
    • ►  Nov (8)
    • ►  Oct (9)
    • ►  Sep (8)
    • ►  Aug (9)
    • ►  Jul (9)
    • ►  Jun (6)
    • ►  May (6)
    • ►  Apr (4)
    • ►  Mar (4)
    • ►  Feb (4)
    • ►  Jan (2)
  • ►  2007 (41)
    • ►  Oct (6)
    • ►  Sep (5)
    • ►  Aug (3)
    • ►  Jul (2)
    • ►  Jun (2)
    • ►  May (2)
    • ►  Apr (7)
    • ►  Mar (5)
    • ►  Feb (5)
    • ►  Jan (4)

Feed

follow us in feedly
  • Google
  • Privacy
  • Terms