Heuristics

Heuristics are approaches that we use to solve a problem that is similar to a problem we know how to solve, but not necessarily the same. 

The most, clear one is doors. First time we come across a door, we don't know how it works. But as we learn how doors work, it becomes easier and easier to understand different kinds of doors. So different types of handles or sliding doors suddenly become easy to to understand. An example from software development would be CRUD, which I find very useful. Create, read, update, delete, which is basically what ninety percent of our software does. We create posts, we read posts, we update them, and we delete them. 

The biggest benefit is we don't have to invent the wheel every time, so it becomes easier to solve problems as we add more knowledge about similar problems. 

They are models of they aren't the truth, so they are fallible. And, of course, we tend to make a lot of assumptions, and those assumptions might be wrong

In software testing, heuristics are like mental models or shortcuts that we as testers use to guide our work. I like to think of heuristics as strategies that help me generate new ideas on what to test and how to test it especially when I run out of ideas myself. Heuristics are particularly useful when it comes to doing exploratory testing because they give us a guideline on what to explore next. 

A heuristic is a way to help me come up with test ideas.

Heuristics are resources or tools you can use most of the time to help you with stuff. It's not always going to be correct, but most of the time, it can help you in some way.