TYPES Of SOFTWARE TESTING
TYPES Of SOFTWARE TESTING
Scalability, Reliability, Quality, and Performance are the key factors in determining the future of software. Software testing is conducted to guarantee these attributes and to ensure a bug-free user-friendly experience with the product/application/software. Here is an insight into the types of testing that software under investigation usually goes through.
Black-Box Testing
Black-Box Testing is usually tagged “like a walk in a dark labyrinth without a flashlight” (Wikipedia). It is primarily because the tester is largely unaware of the source code. Without any discrete information about the internal system design and implementation, the tester treats the software as a black-box and investigates the requirements and functionality.
White-Box Testing
Antithetical to the Black-Box Testing, White-Box testing requires programming skills since it implies seeing through the source code and the internal structures of a program, as opposed to the unilateral focus of the Black-Box Testing on functionality. This testing has striking similarities with In-Circuit Testing in which the tester investigates the inputs, the coding programs, and the consequent outputs.
Unit Testing
Unit Testing implies testing components of a software under investigation. This is essentially the job of a developer who during the course of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) tries to verify the functionality of a specific section of code. The other name for Unit Testing is Component Testing since various components of the software are tested by the developer to find out potential risks, to reduce defects, and to devise tests to minimize failures.
Integration Testing
As the name suggests, Integration Testing tests and verifies combined functionality of the integrated modules. This type of testing is targeted towards investigating interfaces between the components and towards examining such components vis-a-vis the software design. Integration Testing is appropriate for analyzing client and server and distributed systems.
End-to-End Testing
End-to-End Testing is synonymous to System Testing. It involves a thorough investigation of the whole integrated system in order to find out if the system meets the requirements. End-to-End Testing involves testing the system on multiple paradigms such as analysing system’s interaction with a database, hardware, other applications, and other systems.
Sanity and Smoke Testing
Sanity Testing values reason and seeks to determine if it is logical enough to proceed with further testing. This may be equivalent to Smoke Testing in which the software is put under systematic investigation to find out if it is working as per the requirements or if it is crashing even during the initial stages of Software Development Life Cycle. Crashing of software during the initial stages would imply impending risks, faults, and even total failure of such software.
Regression Testing
Regression testing studies and investigates all kinds of software regressions. This kind of a testing entails analyzing the application as a whole to spot if there is resurgence of any long lost or solved or exterminated bugs, if there are any serious defects owing to a major change in the existing code, or if there is an alarming disharmony between the newly developed part of the software and the already existing code. Regression testing forms the backbone of commercial software development where regression tests imply rerunning of test cases to find and debug the software. Since regression tests are used repetitively, Automation tools have lent a consistent and considerable help by automating the processes involved in regression testing.
software- testing
Acceptance Testing
Acceptance Testing connotes testing conducted by the customer of the product. This kind of testing is termed as User Acceptance Testing in which the customer tests the product in the exclusive lab environment and on his own hardware. It is usually carried out at the end of the software development phases to check out if the software meets the requirements as set by the customer, and if it is fit to be accepted.
Software Performance Testing
Performance is the key parameter that decides the success or failure of software. Well-developed software has many quality attributes such as scalability, reliability, and resource usage. Software Performance Testing ensures that an application under investigation should be high on responsiveness and stability even when it is subject to higher load and stress. Contextually, Load Testing would imply analysing scalability of the software which determines if the software can operate effectively without succumbing to any altered quantities of load, whether it is the form of data or users. Secondly, software testers conduct Stress Testing to check out reliability of the product since it has to work as intended, irrespective of the unexpected or rare workload, whether in terms of storage capacity or database load. Further, Stability Testing analyses the software for the much desired endurance which is considered to be mandatory for any product or software to be a success. On the other hand, Usability Testing measures and analyzes the end-user experience and finds out if the product is user-friendly. This testing also ensures that there exists a well-documented user manual so that the product remains user-friendly under every circumstance.
Alpha Testing
During Alpha testing a simulation of the end-user environment is created to find out if there is any scope for further testing and changing of the code thereafter.
Beta Testing
Beta Testing is carried out by end-users and it may also mean final testing before the project is released for the final commercial purposes.
There exists no doubt that Software Testing is integral to Software Development Life Cycle. No software/application/product can be released without intensive software testing. This is the reason why software testing will never cease and software testing professionals cannot simply run out of jobs. If you wish to create good opportunities for yourself in the field of software testing and development, this is an ideal time to get trained in this skill-set. Geofresher is the prime institute that provides hands-on training in software testing wherein the advanced topics related to software testing are covered. There are two courses for software testing at Geofresher: Manual Testing Course and Automation Testing Course. The knowledge of Manual Testing Techniques paves way for training in Automation testing that lets you evolve into a self-sufficient Software Testing Professional.