Smoke testing is non-exhaustive software testing, ascertaining that the most crucial functions of a program work, but not bothering with finer details. The term comes to software testing from a similarly basic type of hardware testing, in which the device passed the test if it didn't catch fire the first time it was turned on. A daily build and smoke test is among industry best practices advocated by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).
The original version of smoke testing predates both hardware and software testing and is still used to test the integrity of a variety of systems by placing a smoke bomb inside some kind of a chamber to see if there are any leaks for the smoke to escape through.
Contributor(s): Jeff Tucker
This was last updated in September 2006
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