Black-box testing focuses on the program's functionality against the specification. White-box testing focuses on the paths of logic. Gray-box testing is a combination of black- and white-box testing. The tester studies the requirements specifications and communicates with the developer to understand the internal structure of the system. The motivation is to clear up ambiguous specifications and "read between the lines" to design implied tests. One example of the use of gray-box testing is when it appears to the tester that a certain functionality seems to be reused throughout an application. If the tester communicates with the developer and understands the internal design and architecture, many tests will be eliminated, because it may be possible to test the functionality only once. Another example is when the syntax of a command consists of seven possible parameters that can be entered in any order, as follows:
Command parm1, parm2, parm3, parm4, parm5, parm6, parm7
In theory, a tester would have to create 7!, or 5040 tests. The problem is compounded further if some of the parameters are optional. If the tester uses gray-box testing, by talking with the developer and understanding the parser algorithm, if each parameter is independent, only seven tests may be required.
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