Challenges in testing SOA applications: an introduction
Over time I will write up a number of articles that touch the many aspects of developing SOA applications. I’m starting with testing since without a sound testing strategy there’s no point in starting software development.
As an introduction to testing SOA application I’ll explore the typical organization of SOA project with regards to testing.
SOA practitioners don’t care about implementation nor unit testing. They expect developers to do their job and deliver quality software. They’d rather spend time on analysis, design and quality control. The latter includes functional and non-functional testing.
In a typical SOA project you’ll thus find two kinds of testing:
* Functional and non-functional testing, most likely the responsibility of a test team or quality assurance team
* Unit and integration tests, developed and maintained by developers
If you look at the schedule or planning of SOA projects you’ll typically recognize the waterfall: requirements gathering, analysis, design, development, testing, … . SOA applications by definition do a Big Design Upfront.
