Testing: An examination and update of electronic testing theory and technology

The technology of testing has been propelled by technological change. Only a computer can talk to another computer with the speed and accuracy we consider reasonable for testing. To examine 256,000 bytes of memory manually at one minute per byte would take 533 days. This is a significant part of the mean-time-between failures of the machine and of the typical equipment life cycle. It also is beyond the reasonable endurance of any human test technician and is prohibitive in cost.