Anything that is built for a purpose needs to be tested for its effective functionality that the product or service or offers. This is how a industry creates products that are both globally accepted and are of good standard. This is brought about thorough quality testing process, similarly, when software’s are developed, they are also tested for their efficacy. This process is called software testing which means the Verification of Application Under Test (AUT). Software testing is either done manually or using automated tools.
A simple definition of Software Testing is any checks or tests that are conducted to see whether the real-life results match the promised or expected results. The final goal is to ensure a defect-free software system. Software testing involves the execution of a system/software component or system component to evaluate the properties of interest. It identifies errors and helps to create the log of missing requirements via the expectation. Software testing is popularly known as ‘White box’ or ‘Black box’ testing.
Software Testing and Stakeholders?
Software testing being the process of verifying and validating a software or application is free of bugs and errors, not only that this method of testing also ensures that the product meets all the technical requirements. Testing as done through guidelines and standards is also guided by its design and development needs to meet the needs of the users precisely as many of them as user-specific and task-specific applications. Another use of software testing is that it tests the software or component in effectively handling of all outlier or non-traditional requests.
The aim of Software Testing is to measure the specifics, the functionality and the performance of a software program. It also checks the components or how it gets rendered to the final user. That is why, not only does software testing focuses at finding bugs, but it also is used for finding ways to improve the software’s reliability, efficiency, accuracy and usability.
Knowing the Process of SoftwareTesting
Like any scientific product development process of the modern world, Software Testing is also done to set the standard and global discipline and standard. As the languages on which these are coded are universal and the underlying technology is also more or less the same, so testing, as a scientific process is done in two steps:
The first step is the Verification step . During this process, the tester ensures that the software correctly implements the function that it has been written for. In this stage, they measure the difference between the real and expected outcome of the software. It helps the developers see if they are building the product, right?
The second step is the Validation step, this validation involves a different set of activities or where in it verifies if the software can be traced back to the design and specifications of the consumer. This step helps developers to understand if they are building the right product. This ensures that the function can be traced back to requirements.
Different Levels of Software Testing
Software Testing is a systematic set up with various levels of understanding and verifications. The levels of software testing are
1. Unit Testing:
At this level, individual components/modules of a software are tested for validating that the software functions as expected.
2. Integration Testing:
When different components of the software are tested together for performance a complex logic running through various conditions, it reveals the errors or barriers to the interaction between different units who have to work in an integrated manner just like a different part of a machine tool come together to deliver a full function.
3. System Testing:
When a complete, integrated system/software is tested, it is called system testing as it is being tested as a total system; this ensures the code has been written precisely in specification to the client.
4. Acceptance Testing:
When a full system is being tested for acceptability before the final delivery, this is the penultimate step in creating the software. This step evaluates compliance with the requirements and measures its acceptability.
Further to it, Software Testing are broadly classified into 2 categories.
1. Manual Testing:
As the name suggests, this process involves testing the software manually, without the aid of an automated tool or script. This is done through a manual process, where the developer plays the role of the end-user of this software. When a tester dons the hat of an end-user and notes down all bugs and gaps in functionality while using as if in a real-life situation. These are then reported to the developer for fixing or further development. The various stages of manual testing start from unit testing, integration testing, and system testing, all the way up until user acceptance testing.
Testers create what is known as a test case, which reflects a real-life scenario in which the developed software is used. This data set is used to create test plans and different scenarios to see how well the script can handle different types of requests. This ensures a comprehensive test ensuring full functionality in real-life scenarios. During the Manual testing process, the testers also do exploratory testing to identify the errors in the software.
2. Automation Testing:
Again, as the name suggests and contrary to manual testing, Automation testing, aka Test Automation, occurs when the tester writes scripts and uses another software to test the product because this process must include automation of manual processes. Automation Testing is done by re-running the test cases or scenarios that were performed manually during manual testing. This is a secondary but post manual testing process, which makes final verifications easy while ensuring other software reliability in use.
Automation testing is also used to see how the application handles the request load and the point where it gets stressed.
It helps the end-users and developers attain the main objective of improved testing, accuracy. and saves time and money in comparison to manual testing.
In addition to this, there are two techniques for software testing
1. Black Box Testing:
It is the technique of testing where the testers cannot access the source code of the software and are conducted at the software interface. This is important because it has done without concern for internal logic.
2. White-Box Testing:
In white-box testing, the tester is aware of how the software works internally and also have access to the source code in a way that all internal operations are performed as per the requirements.
Benefits of Software Testing and why is it so important
Cost Effective:
Testing can truly save the overall money in the nutshell. It is a preventive measure when a bug is scrutinized at the earliest; it has low cost spending on it.
Quality Product: Companies can be off cent percent assurance with software testing that their customers will be the happy ones.
Security: With the process of Software Testing, the product becomes highly trusted one with no risks and issues
Customer Happiness: A happy customer is always a booster. This product brings smiles with the best UI/UX user experience
