Gamification of Software Testing

G. Fraser
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引用次数: 33

Abstract

Writing good software tests is difficult, not everysoftware developer’s favorite occupation, and not a prominentaspect in programming education. However, human involvementin testing is unavoidable: What makes a test good is oftendown to intuition; what makes a test useful depends on anunderstanding of the program context; what makes a test findbugs depends on understanding the intended program behaviour.Because the consequences of insufficient testing can be dire, thispaper explores a new angle to address the testing problem:Gamification is the approach of converting potentially tediousor boring tasks to components of entertaining gameplay, wherethe competitive nature of humans motivates them to competeand excel. By applying gamification concepts to software testing,there is potential to fundamentally change software testing inseveral ways: First, gamification can help to overcome deficienciesin education, where testing is a highly neglected topic. Second,gamification engages practitioners in testing tasks they wouldotherwise neglect, and gets them to use advanced testing toolsand techniques they would otherwise not consider. Finally, gamificationmakes it possible to crowdsource complex testing tasksthrough games with a purpose. Collectively, these applications ofgamification have the potential to substantially improve softwaretesting practice, and thus software quality.
软件测试的游戏化
编写好的软件测试是困难的,不是每个软件开发人员最喜欢的职业,也不是编程教育的一个突出方面。然而,人类参与测试是不可避免的:测试的好坏往往取决于直觉;什么使测试有用取决于对程序上下文的理解;是什么让测试发现bug取决于对预期的程序行为的理解。因为测试不足的后果可能是可怕的,所以本文探索了一个解决测试问题的新角度:游戏化是一种将潜在的乏味任务转化为有趣游戏玩法组成部分的方法,在这种方法中,人类的竞争天性激励着他们去竞争和超越。通过将游戏化概念应用于软件测试,有可能在几个方面从根本上改变软件测试:首先,游戏化可以帮助克服教育中的缺陷,在教育中,测试是一个被高度忽视的话题。其次,游戏化让从业者参与到他们原本会忽视的测试任务中,并让他们使用他们原本不会考虑的高级测试工具和技术。最后,游戏化使得通过有目的的游戏将复杂的测试任务众包成为可能。总的来说,这些游戏化的应用有潜力极大地改进软件测试实践,从而提高软件质量。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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