Software testing glossary

Short, clear definitions for the terms that come up in testing conversations — no jargon left unexplained.

A

Acceptance CriteriaAcceptance criteria are the specific, testable conditions a feature must meet to be considered done — written in advance, in plain language, so everyone agrees what "finished" means before work starts.

D

Defect Life CycleThe defect life cycle is the sequence of states a bug moves through from discovery to resolution — typically New, Triaged, In Progress, Fixed, Verified, and Closed (or Reopened).

E

Entry and Exit CriteriaEntry criteria are the conditions that must be true before testing can start (a stable build, a test environment ready). Exit criteria are the conditions that must be true before testing is considered done.

F

M

Mock vs Stub vs FakeAll three are stand-ins for a real dependency in a test. A stub returns canned answers. A mock also records and verifies how it was called. A fake is a lightweight but working implementation.

Q

QA vs QCQuality Assurance (QA) is the set of practices that prevent defects — process, standards, review. Quality Control (QC) is checking the finished product for defects. QA is proactive; QC is inspection.

S

T

Test Case vs Test ScenarioA test scenario is a high-level thing to verify ("user can reset their password"). A test case is the detailed, step-by-step procedure that verifies it, with specific inputs and an expected result.

U

Unit vs Integration vs End-to-End TestingThese describe how much of the system a test exercises. Unit tests check one function in isolation. Integration tests check several units together across a real boundary. End-to-end tests check the whole app from the outside.

V

Verification vs ValidationVerification asks: did we build the thing right? Does the code match the spec? Validation asks: did we build the right thing? Does the spec match what users actually need?