What is Software Testing?
Technology is completely dominated by machines, and their behavior is controlled by the software powering it. Software Testing and Quality Assurance provides the solution to all our worries about programs behaving the exact way we want them to.
Software Testing is the process of evaluating and verifying the functionality of a software application to find any errors or misbehaviors.
It checks whether the developed software meets the specified requirements and identifies any defect in the software to produce a quality product. It recognizes bugs, gaps, errors, or missing requirements contrary to the actual ones.
It mainly helps in reducing development costs and improving performance.
Software Testing involves the execution of a software or system component to evaluate one or more properties of interest. It can be either done manually or using automated tools.
In simple terms, Software Testing means the verification of Application Under Test (AUT).
As the number of potential tests for even simple software components is nearly infinite, all software testing employs some strategy to select tests that are fit for the available time and resources.
The job of testing is an iterative process as when one bug is fixed, it can illuminate other, deeper bugs, or can even create new ones.
Let’s move ahead and know more about the importance of testing.
Why is testing important?
Few can argue against the necessity for quality control when producing software. Software defects can hurt a brand’s reputation — leading to frustrated and lost customers. In severe cases, a bug or defect can degrade interconnected systems or cause serious malfunctions.
Businesses can save millions in development and support if they have a good testing procedure and QA processes in place. Early Software Testing reveals problems before a product goes to market.
The sooner developers receive test feedback, the sooner they can fix issues such as architectural flaws, poor design decisions, incorrect functionalities, security vulnerabilities, or scalability issues.
When development leaves enough room for testing, it improves software reliability and high-quality applications are achieved with fewer errors.
A system that meets or -even better- exceeds customer expectations leads to potentially more sales and bigger market share.
Software bugs can be expensive and even dangerous. They can potentially cause financial and human loss, and history is full of such examples.
This is why Software Testing & QA is critical for any well-respected development team.
Which are their benefits?
Here are some of Software Testing & QA benefits:
- Cost-Effective: Testing has many benefits and one of the most important ones is cost-effectiveness. Testing any IT project on time helps you save money in the long term. Software development has many steps, and if bugs are caught in the earlier stages, it costs much less to fix them.
- Security: Customers look for trusted products. A good Software Testing process helps to prevent risks and problems that could give your company a headache.
- Customer Satisfaction: The main purpose of any product is to give satisfaction to their customers. UI/UX Testing ensures the most reliable and satisfying user experience.
Which types of testing are available?
There are many different types of software tests, each with distinct objectives and strategies:
- Acceptance Test: Verifies whether the whole system works as intended.
- Integration Test: Assures that software components or functions operate together.
- Unit Test: Validates that each software unit works as expected. A unit is the smallest testable component of an application.
- Functional Test: Checks functions by emulating business scenarios, based on functional requirements. Black-box testing is a popular way to verify those functions.
- Performance Test: Tests how the software performs under several workloads. Load testing, for example, is used to evaluate performance under real-life workload situations.
- Regression Test: Checks whether new features break or degrade functionality. A Sanity test, for example, can be used to check menus, functions, and commands at the surface level, while more deep tests are performed in a full Regression test.
- Stress Test: Tests how much strain the system can take before failing. It's considered to be a non-functional testing.
- Usability Test: Validates how well a customer can use a system or application.
In each case, validating core requirements is a critical evaluation. Just as important, Exploratory Testing helps uncover hard-to-predict scenarios that can lead to software errors.
Even a simple application can be subject to a large number of tests. A Test Management Plan helps to prioritize which types of testing present the most value, given available time and resources.
Manual and Automated Testing
Manual Testing is done by an actual person, by clicking through the application and interacting with the software and APIs with the proper tooling. This requires someone to set up an environment and execute the tests themselves, one by one.
Tests need to be performed using a different data set every time, and the success or failure rate of every transaction is recorded for later analysis.
Automated Tests are performed by a machine that executes a test script written in advance. Those tests can vary a lot in its complexity, from checking a single method in a class to performing a sequence of intricate actions in the UI.
Automated Testing is a key element of continuous integration and continuous delivery, and it's an excellent way to scale your QA process as you add new features to your application. But there's still value in doing some Manual Testing with what is called Exploratory Testing as well.
You just have to choose what's best fit to your software and business.
To provide the best experience for your user, it’s essential to find errors and bugs so your software meets the necessary quality standards.
At Devlane we perform software testing and QA for all sorts of companies, no matter how big or small. We’ll advise you and help you throughout the process, finding new and better technologies to test your product and improve your user’s experience.
