Scalability and Goal Testing for Developers

ften developers are tasked with not only developing functional code, but also with ensuring that the code they develop scales well and performs in the application environment. The tests that need to be performed against developed code are threefold in nature:

• Function testing: verifies that the code performs its proposed function.
• Scalability testing: verifies that the code consumes as few resources as possible while performing its proposed function.
• Goal testing: verifies that the code executes in less time than any specified service level agreement (SLA).

Of the three tests, usually function testing is the easiest of the three to verify.

This article covers the difference between scalability and goal testing, illustrates an example of pseudo-code test harnesses for manual testing, and demonstrates an example test of an Oracle procedure using an automated testing interface (Quest Software’s Toad). This article provides direction for developers seeking to learn about proper code testing and the tools available to make testing accessible to developers.