In an earlier blog I mentioned that there is a distinction between “load” and “stress” testing which is worth further clarification. This is important - as knowing which regime you’re in helps you understand a test’s value.

Crudely, load and stress testing involve pushing software/hardware at different levels, the latter “harder” than the former. Jon Tilt suggested a good analogy based around testing a passenger car. In a good demonstration of “reuse”, I’ve shamelessly stolen the analogy here…

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Recently my car has been unhappy - and not meeting the “service level agreement” I expect from it. I realised I was a software tester when I began defining test cases to determine what was wrong with it… which at least highlighted several parallels (and lessons!) between the “traditional” and software engineering disciplines.

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