How to test a time machine

You are probably wondering how we came up with the unique title of this book as well as this chapter. It all began with an idea I wrote on my blog – if a time machine were to exist, how would you test it?

This comes from a typical test interview question in which the interviewer would ask the interviewee how to test some object, and try to identify/organize the cases in different types of tests. The question might appear silly, but it actually tells a lot about the interviewee’s testing capabilities, out-of-the-box thinking, curiosity, inventive and testing knowledge.

Therefore, feel free to take a pause from reading, take a notepad, and do this exercise – if time machines were to exist, how would you design the testing for them? Start writing everything that comes to mind. Then, keep reading to see whether there was something that we or you have missed.

At the end of the day, when it comes to testing an application, you may...