Software Testing’s Place in Development

SOFTWARE may be unique among engineered artifacts in that its testing has a formal place among the processes of development, a place with methods and measures all its own that are integrated into development itself. Products of the older engineering disciplines get tried, of course, but in a significantly different way. The test of a skyscraper is that it stands against the forces of nature. But structural engineers do not typically bother to check their calculations, say by attaching strain gauges to the beams as they are put in place.