What is Software Testing?
Overview
The Software testing industry is currently on the boom and it's the easiest way to enter the IT industry. Software testing is comparatively easier to learn and get into as compared to software development which is far more competitive. In this article, we are going to talk about the what is software testing, its significance, different types of testing, and challenges associated with the field.
What is Software Testing?
Software testing is a process where we validate that the product developed is as per the requirement of the client. Software is ensured that it is defect free, safe to use, and validated against different metrics. Software is tested for security, user experience, speed, performance, load capacity, and many other parameters. Software development and software testing both are ongoing processes as every time a new functionality gets added, it is tested for its accuracy.
What are the Benefits of Software Testing?
Here are the benefits of software testing:
- 1. Accuracy: Software testing answers all the necessary questions like how much load a server can take, the speed of the site, and the safety of data to define the reliability of the product.
- 2. Saves cost: It's a well-known concept in the software development world that the earlier the defect is detected, the cheaper its cost of fixing. Because once that defect goes to the user's end, the damage could cost the company.
- 3. Saves time: Software testing saves time in the long run as it does not lead the new changes to go to the next stage till has been tested properly but the testing team against all the necessary parameters which ensures a high-quality product is going every next stage.
- 4. Product quality: Since the product is tested against the necessary metrics, product quality improves. A well-tested product reaches the market.
- 5. Trust factor: Software testing builds trust in the company as well as among users. As the product is well tested, the company remains confident in handling any possible outburst. And that confidence gets reflected in their product marketing and hence among users.
Software Testing can be Divided into Two Steps
Verification
Software testing ensures that the product we are building is defect free, and secure, as per the client's requirement and user's expectations. It is tested against all the parameters to deliver a quality product.
Validation
Validation in software testing emphasizes where the product is being built is the right fit for the market. For instance, when Google Glass was built, it was a high-quality product that checked all the technical parameters. But when Google Glass was brought into the industry, it was immediately banned by a lot of governments because of security and privacy obligations. So, Google Glass was a well-verified but not validated product.
Verification vs Validation
| Verification | Validation |
|---|---|
| Verification focuses on building a technically sound product. | Validation focuses on building the right product for the market. |
| Verification is done on all the technical parameters like performance, load, and security. | Validation focuses on market size, pricing of product, industry requirement, use cases, etc. |
| Verification can only be done by the testing team. | Validation is done mainly by the Business Analyst team. |
| Verification is done after a feature is developed. | Validation is done before a feature goes into development. |
Types of Software Testing
There are primarily two types of testing: Functional Testing and Non-functional Testing. Functional Testing: Functional testing ensures all the requirements given by the client in the product are met. For example, the client wanted the product to have basic authentication, Gmail authentication, and Facebook authentication, so the testing team would write test cases to check all the validations are smoothly working and that there are no bugs in the system. Functional testing includes
- Unit testing
- Integration testing
- Smoke testing
- Regression testing
- Smoke testing etc
Non-functional Testing: Non-functional requirements are not directly asked by the client but are part of deliverables with any feature. Security testing, User experience, Performance testing, and speed are all non-functional requirements that must be met by the development team. Non-functional testing includes
- Performance testing
- Volume testing
- Usability testing
- Security testing
- Speed testing etc
Learn more about types of software testing from the following Scaler Topics article: Link
Latest Trending Tools and Technologies in Software Testing
The software testing industry is growing and changing at a rapid pace. Every few days new tools are introduced in the market. No code or codeless tools are also trending, so below are some of the most in-demand tools in the industry.
- Selenium tool for UI automation
- Cypress tool for front-end testing
- Katalon Studio for codeless front-end testing
- Appium for mobile automation
- Apache Jmeter for performance testing
- Postman for API testing
- Rest Assured for API testing
- Jira for project and bug management tool
- QTP for a bug management tool
- HP ALM for project management and reporting tool
- Bugzilla tool for bug management
Types of Software Testing Techniques
There are two types of software testing based on a technique to write test cases which are listed below
Black Box Testing
In black box testing, the tester focuses on validating the code based on the output he obtains for the input parameter. Here test cases are not written by keeping in mind how the code is written or what the code is. Examples:
- Performance testing
- Speed testing
- Usability testing
White Box Testing
In white box testing, test cases are written to validate if there is a bug in the code, and some case scenarios have been missed. Here, knowledge of the flow of the code is important, hence tester having sound knowledge of development becomes the key. Examples:
- Path testing
- Unit testing
- Integration testing
| White box testing | Black box testing |
|---|---|
| Test cases are written based on the code structure | Test cases are written to validate the output without the knowledge of the code. |
| A tester having sound coding knowledge is important | A tester can do black box testing without knowing coding implementation |
| It helps to find some missing case scenarios | It validates the code based on output obtained |
| Example: Path testing, Condition testing, Loop testing, and many more | Example: Performance testing, Speed testing, and many more |
Challenges in Software Testing
The software testing industry is constantly evolving and with every evolution comes to some challenges. So, let's have a look at some of these challenges.
-
Requirement gathering: Requirement analysis, gathering, and evaluating the impact of a requirement change is hands down the biggest challenge the industry is facing. Product managers need to have sound knowledge of the tech and business world to evaluate what would be the impact of the change. And lack of skilled CTOs and managers is one of the major challenges the industry is facing.
-
Budget management: There is no doubt that testing increases the budget manifolds. Every functionality has to go through a series of testing - UI testing, API testing, performance testing, and security testing which increases the cost.
-
Lack of skilled people: Testing industry is a competitive industry that requires testers to keep upgrading themselves from time to time. The testing industry requires knowledge of manual testing, automation, coding, and DevOps.
-
Duplicating the test environment: Every user works under different conditions of internet, technology, geo-location, and language. To test all get the same experience, one needs to build a different test environment. And that's a challenge.
-
Undefined quality standards: The current debate on data security has highlighted the scarcity of a governing institute for standard rules, regulations, and guidelines. The threat of Artificial Intelligence still has to be regulated.
Conclusion
- In this article, we answered what is software testing. Software testing is one of the growing industries in the current times which is the easiest way to migrate to tech.
- Software testing ensures a high-quality, bug-free product reaches the market.
- Verification ensures the product is well tested whereas validation tests the market acceptance of the product
- Functional testing tests the product based on client requirements whereas non-functional tests the product for usability and performance.
- White box testing techniques require the tester to know the flow of the code whereas black box testing validates the code based on the output obtained.
- ** Software testing industry** is evolving at a fast pace and holds a good future for the upcoming decade.