What we just saw with the category-partition method, is a
specific instance of this systematic
functional testing approach. So specific instance
of the steps that we represented here. And, as I
mentioned earlier on, this is not the only way in which
you can generate test cases, starting from a functional specification.
In particular, this step, in which we identified relevant inputs and
then we combine them to generate test case specifications, can also
be done in different ways. And, we're going to look at one
of these ways. Which is through the construction of a
model. And, the reason why I want to talk about models.
Is because, model based testing is also, fairly popular in
industry. And fairly used in practice. In model based testing, the
way in which we go from specifications, to test cases,
is through the construction of a model. Where a model is
an abstract representation of the software under test. Also in
this case there are many possible models, that we can use.
And what we're going to do, we're going to focus
on a specific kind of model. And I'll
just point you to additional sources of information,
in case you're interested in seeing other examples.