Types of Software Testing Throughout the Software Development Lifecycle

Stephen Soldberg
Oct 29 · 4 min read

While developing a product requires a lot of planning and attention to detail, the same thing is true when it comes to software testing. There are many types of software testing and they are all important in their own right, but it is very important that you are very scrupulous with your testing processes. Let’s take a look at why testing your software should be a top priority.

Why is Testing So Important?

We are all concerned about the bottom and are hesitant to add anything that will incur costs, but increasing testing can actually save you money in the long run. Think about it. Catching mistakes late in the SDLC is costly and time-consuming. Moreover, if your product is released to the users with functionality issues, they will not hesitate to simply delete it and give a bad review. While large companies are usually able to get away with such blunders, it can be difficult for startups to fix the damage. Therefore, if you can notice and remediate errors early on, you will save a lot of money and get your product to market faster.

Also, let’s consider security. There are so many threats from the outside that must be repelled, that it might seem impossible to create a product that safeguards users’ personal details. For example, there are SQL injections, cross-site scripting, DDoS attacks, and the list can go on and on. If security flaws within the software go unnoticed and user credentials are exposed, this can be disastrous for even the biggest companies. Let’s remember recent scandals involving companies like Capital One, Facebook, Lenovo, and many others. Again, given their name recognition. They will be able to recover from this, even though it might take a while. Furthermore, they faced huge fines from the government, but they had the cash to deal with this. Smaller companies will not be so lucky.

Finally, think about the product that you are about to release. How do you know that what you are releasing to the users will work? Is what you have created bring the necessary business value for your company and use for the consumer. These questions will be much easier to answer if testing is conducted throughout the SDLC. Furthermore, if your software service provider is using the Agile methodology, they will create each feature in sprints, usually, last 1–2 weeks. Testing will also be done in iterations and the service provider will be able to show what has been accomplished in each sprint.

types of software testing
types of software testing

Different Types of Software Testing

Various types of software testing exist to check every part of the product. Let’s take a look at some of the most common testing types.

  • Functionality testing — This is when the final product is tested against the requirements that were set out in the beginning. This is done by feeding input and examining the output. With this test, you are not focused on how the process occurs, but rather the final result. If the user performs certain actions, will he get the results he is looking for?
  • User acceptance testing — This is one thing to have the software tested by QA engineers, but having actual users test it is a whole different ball game. In order to conduct such testing, you will need to make at least the beta version available to prospective users who will browse through the application. While such testing might seem trivial, you may uncover some flaws in the logic that will cause your app to be received badly.
  • Penetration testing — It is important for both you and your users to feel confident in sharing their personal information with the application. This means that it needs to be perfectly safe from both outside hacking attempts and include data encryption to avoid data being stolen.

Furthermore, it is important to conduct both automated and manual testing. While the automated test might reveal errors in the code itself, some of the issues concerning usability and functionality can only be discovered manually.

Test Early and Often

It is important to understand that even if you conduct many various types of software testing, it is simply not possible to perform complete testing. There are simply too many scenarios and testing combinations and testing them all is simply not possible. What you should aim to do from the very beginning is to set up the right processes where you are able to catch the bugs on time. These processes should also be clearly defined so that everybody understands them. Setting up such a uniform approach may be difficult for teams that are spread out in different locations, but it is possible to do this.

Speaking of communication, it is very important that the goals of testing and the business requirements are stated from the very beginning. Any changes or updates must be performed in such a way that the QA team has time to perform the tests. Aligning your testing and development efforts is very important for Agile. Specifically, you are trying to achieve continuous integration and delivery a goal of DevOps.

Finally, be sure that you have the necessary personnel and resources to get the job done properly. Furthermore, your team needs to be equipped with the latest tools in order to catch advanced threats such as SQL injections, cross-site scripting and anything else that can threaten your app. So be sure to test early and often and do the best job possible. There will always be bugs regardless of how well you code or search for them. The best you can do is make it easier for your teams to locate them and fix them.

Read more on out blog.

Softwarium

Software development company Blog

Stephen Soldberg

Written by

Business development manager in Softwarium

Softwarium

Software development company Blog

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