In this 13-video course, learners explore part of chapter 1 from the ISTQB Software Testing Foundation Level 2018 certification exam syllabus, encompassing the fundamentals of testing, its importance, and general testing principles. Learn what software testing is and its overall role in the development process. Examine objectives for any test project and roles played by testing and debugging in software development, and how they differ. Learn benefits of performing software testing and how it can lead to a successful product. Look at the relationship between testing and quality assurance and their role in developing higher quality products. Learn about software problems, what errors, defects, and failures are and distinguish between them, their root causes, and effects. Review the seven testing principles: 1 and 2, on the presence of defects and the reality of exhaustive testing; 3 and 4, on early testing and defect clustering; 5 and 6, on the pesticide paradox and context dependency; and 7, the error absence fallacy. The concluding exercise deals with major reasons for testing and its importance in software development.