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According to the Standard, testing can be described as - A method of analyzing a piece of software to determine the difference between the existing conditions and the required ones (that is to say defects/errors/bugs), and to assess the features of that software.
Who Does Testing?
The process of the project and its stakeholders will determine the outcome. Large companies in the IT sector have teams whose responsibility is to assess the software developed against the requirements. Unit Testing is also conducted by developers. Most often, professionals in their fields are responsible for testing systems.
- Testing Software
- Software Developer
- Project Lead/Manager
- Users
There are different titles for software testers in various companies based on their knowledge and experience, such as Software Quality Assurance Engineer, QA analyst, etc. The software cannot be tested at any point during the SDLC. In the next sections, we will discuss when and how to start testing during SDLC.
When Should You Start Testing?
Early testing can reduce the time and cost of rework, and ensure that the software delivered to clients is error-free. In the Software Development Life Cycle, testing may begin at the Requirements Gathering stage and continue until the release of the software.
The development model is also important. In the Waterfall Model, for example, the formal testing takes place in the test phase. However, the incremental model performs testing after each increment/iteration, and at the final stage, the entire application is checked.
Every phase of SDLC includes different types of testing.
- The analysis and verification are considered testing during the requirements-gathering phase.
- Testing can also include reviewing the design during the design phase to make improvements.
- The testing performed by the developer after code completion is also included in this category.
What is Software Testing?
The process of software testing involves evaluating and verifying whether a product or application performs as it should. Testing has many benefits, including preventing bugs and reducing costs.
Software Testing Types
Software testing can be divided into many types, with each having its objectives and strategy.
- Acceptance Testing: Verifying that the entire system functions as intended.
- Integrating testing: Testing to ensure that components and functions of software work together.
- Unit Testing: Verifying that every software unit works as it should. The smallest component that can be tested in an application is a unit.
- Functional Testing: Verifying functions by simulating scenarios based on the functional requirements. The black-box test is one of the most common ways to check functions.
- Performance Testing: Test how the software performs when subjected to different loads. For example, load testing is used to assess performance in real-life conditions.
- Regression Testing: Verifying whether or not new features degrade functionality. When there's no time to run a regression test, a sanity check can be done. This allows you to quickly verify the menus, commands and functions at a surface level.
- Stress test: Test how much stress the system can withstand before failing. Often considered a form of non-functional test.
- Usability Testing: Verifying how easily a user can complete a particular task using a web-based application or system.
Validating the base requirements in each situation is an important assessment. Exploratory testing is also important because it helps testers and testing teams uncover difficult-to-predict situations or scenarios that could lead to errors in software.
A simple application may be tested in a variety of ways. Test management plans help prioritize the types of tests that are most valuable, given time and resource constraints. The testing effectiveness can be maximized by executing the least number of tests to detect the most defects.
Software Testing History
The development of software began shortly after World War II. Tom Kilburn, a computer scientist, is said to have written the first software piece, which was launched on June 21st, 1948 at the University of Manchester, England. The computer performs calculations by using machine code.
For the first two decades, the primary testing technique was debugging. In the 1980s development teams began to test applications outside of a lab environment, rather than just isolating bugs and fixing them. This paved the way for an expanded view of software testing that included a quality assurance process as part of the entire lifecycle of software development. The testing had attained a new qualitative level. This led to further developments in methodologies and the development of tools that manage the test process.
Continuous Testing
Software testing is traditionally separate from other development. Software testing is usually done later, after product development or implementation. The tester has a limited time to test code, sometimes right before an application is launched. There may not be enough time to recode or test again if defects are discovered. The software can be released on schedule, with some bugs.
A testing team can fix bugs but still miss the release date. By incorporating testing earlier into the development cycle, the focus of the test effort is kept at the front and not as a last-minute addition. Early software testing also means that it is less costly to fix defects. Many teams use the continuous testing methodology.
This is part of the DevOps methodology, where operations and development work together throughout the product's lifecycle. It is a way to balance cost, risk and quality while speeding up software development. This testing method allows teams to start testing before the software is built. The tests can be run earlier to detect defects when it is easier to fix them.
Why Software Testing is Important
Quality control is essential when creating software. Software defects or late delivery can harm a company's brand reputation, leading to unhappy customers and lost sales. A bug or defect may cause severe malfunctions or degrade the interconnected system.
Even though testing costs money, companies that have good testing techniques and QA procedures in place can save millions of dollars per year on development and support. Early software testing reveals problems before a product goes on the market. Early feedback from testers allows development teams to address problems such as:
- Architectural flaws
- Poor design decisions
- Functionality invalid or incorrect
- Security Vulnerabilities
- Issues with Scalability
Testing is a vital part of software development. It improves the reliability of applications and ensures that they are high quality. When a system meets or exceeds the customer's expectations, it can lead to more sales and a larger market share.
Best Practices For Software Testing
The process of software testing is standardized. The steps or tasks include: defining the testing environment, creating test cases, writing test scripts, analyzing test results, and submitting defects reports.
It can take a lot of time to test. For small builds, manual testing or ad hoc testing might be sufficient. For larger systems, automation tools are often used. Automation testing allows teams to test scenarios and differentiators, such as moving components in a cloud-based environment. It also provides feedback quickly on what is working and what's not.
Good testing encompasses the application programming interface (API), the user interface, and the system level. The more automated tests and the earlier they are run, the better. Many teams create their test automation software. Vendor solutions can simplify key tasks in test management, such as:
- Continuous Testing: Project Teams test each new build when it is available. Test automation is used in this type of testing. This allows the software to be tested in realistic environments early in the development process, improving design and reducing risk.
- Configuration Management: Organizations can centrally manage test assets, and keep track of what software is being tested. The teams can access assets like code, designs, documents, models and results. Users authentication and audit trails are important features of good systems that help teams comply with compliance requirements.
- Virtualization of services: A testing environment may not be readily available at the beginning stages of code development. Service virtualization allows teams to test faster and reduce dependency by simulating services or systems that may not be available yet. The configuration can be reused, deployed and changed to simulate different scenarios.
- Bug tracking or defect tracking: Both testing and development teams need to monitor defects to improve quality. Automation tools enable teams to measure defects' scope, impact and discover related issues.
- Metrics & Reporting: Analytics and reporting allow team members to communicate status, test results and goals. The latest tools allow you to integrate metrics into your project and display the results on a dashboard. The dashboard allows teams to quickly assess the health of their project. They can also monitor how test, development and any other elements are related.
The Top Trends in Software Testing for 2023
Top Software Testing Trends to Watch in 2023
1. Agile and DevOps
Agile is a way to respond to requirements that change rapidly, and DevOps to meet the need for speed. DevOps is a set of practices, rules, and processes that integrate development with operations to shorten the development-to-operations time. DevOps is a solution that has been widely adopted by organizations looking for ways to reduce the time between development and operations.
Adoption of Agile and DevOps allows teams to deliver high-quality software more quickly, also known as Quality of Speed. The adoption of Agile and DevOps has been gaining popularity over the last five years, with interest continuing to grow in the future.
2. Test Automation
Test automation is a crucial element in the DevOps methodology and cannot be ignored by software teams. It is important to look for opportunities to replace manual tests with automated ones. DevOps considers test automation to be a bottleneck. Therefore, the majority of regression tests should at least be automated.
There is plenty of opportunity to adopt test automation within organizations, given the prevalence of DevOps, and that less than 20 percent of testing is automated. To improve the use of test automation, more advanced tools and methods should be developed.
3. API and Services Test Automation
The decoupling of clients and servers in Web applications and mobile apps is an emerging trend. APIs and services can be reused by more than one component or application. To keep up with these changes, the development teams must test the APIs and services independently of the applications that use them.
Testing APIs and services are much more efficient and effective than testing client components and applications. API and service test automation are on the rise, perhaps even outpacing the user-interface functionality. It is now more important than ever to have the best process, solution, and tool for API Automation tests. It is well worth the effort to learn about API Testing Tools.
4. Artificial Intelligence for Testing
The software community has been using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to solve challenges related to software testing for many years. However, recent advances in AI/ML coupled with the large amounts of available data have opened up new possibilities to use AI/ML to test software.
The application of AI/ML to testing is in its infancy. AI/ML will be used to improve testing in organizations. AI/ML algorithms will be developed to produce better test cases and test reports. The use of predictive models will help make better decisions on where, what and when to test.
Smart analytics and visualization help teams detect errors and understand coverage of tests, high-risk areas, etc. In the coming years, we hope to see AI/ML used for addressing issues such as test case priority, fault classification and assignment, quality prediction, etc.
5. Mobile Test Automation
Mobile devices continue to improve in capabilities, which is why the trend for mobile app development will only grow. Mobile test automation is a must for DevOps to be fully supported. Mobile test automation has a very low usage rate, partially due to a lack of tools and methods.
Automated testing of mobile applications is on the rise. The trend of automated testing for mobile apps is driven by the necessity to reduce time-to-market and use more advanced tools and methods. Integration between cloud-based labs for mobile devices like Kobiton, and test automation software like Katalon can help bring mobile automation up to the next stage.
6. Test Environments and Data
Due to the rapid expansion of the Internet of Things devices (see here for top IoT products), more software is being used in different environments. It is a difficult task for testing teams to maintain the appropriate level of coverage. If you want to apply tests for agile projects, the absence of data and test environments is one of your biggest challenges. Cloud-based test environments and containers will continue to grow in popularity. The lack of test data can be solved by using AI/ML and data projects to create test data.
7. Integrating Tools and Activities
Testing tools that are not fully integrated into the application lifecycle management toolkits will be difficult to use. The software teams must integrate all tools for the development and testing phases to ensure that data from multiple sources can be gathered to effectively apply AI/ML.
AI/ML can detect the best areas to test, but it also needs data from other phases, such as requirements, design, and implementation. With the increasing trend of DevOps and AI/ML in test automation, testing tools will be able to integrate with other ALM tools.
Read More: Why Is Testing Essential in the Development of Software?
Software Testing - Levels
During the testing process, there are several levels. This chapter provides a short description of these levels. The different levels of software testing can include a variety of methodologies. Software testing is divided into several levels:
- Functional Testing
- Non-functional testing
Functional Testing
It is an example of black box testing that relies on the specification of the software to be tested. Tests are conducted by providing the application with input, and the results of the test will be compared to its intended functionality. A software's functionality is tested on an integrated, complete system to determine if it meets the requirements. The above steps will be applied by an effective testing policy to every organization, ensuring that they maintain the highest standards of software quality.
Test Units
Developers perform this type of testing before the setup and test cases are handed to the testers. Developers perform unit testing on individual source code units. Developers use different test data than the data used by the Quality Assurance team. Unit testing aims to show each component of a program is correct, both in terms of functionality and requirements.
The Limitations of Unit Testing
It is impossible to catch every single bug. Every software application cannot be evaluated for every possible execution path. Unit testing is no different. A developer is limited in the number of test scenarios or data they can use for verifying a code. Once all options have been exhausted, the only option left is to cease unit testing the segment and merge it with the other code segments.
Integrity Testing
The definition of integration testing is the test of integrated parts in an application. This allows you to check if everything works correctly. The two main ways to perform integration tests are Bottom-up Integration Testing and Top-down Integration Testing.
Typically, in a software development environment that is comprehensive, the bottom-up test comes first. Then, top-down tests are performed. The final step is to test the entire application in multiple scenarios, which are designed to simulate real-life situations.
Test Your System
The system is tested as a unit. The application is rigorously tested once all components have been integrated to ensure that the Quality Standards are met. A specialized team performs this type of testing.
The following are some of the reasons why system testing is so important:
- The first stage of the Software Development Life Cycle is system testing, which involves the entire application being tested.
- It is thoroughly tested to ensure that the application meets all functional and technical requirements.
- The testing environment must be as close as possible to the environment in which the application will ultimately be used.
- The system testing process allows us to verify and validate the requirements of the applications as well as their architecture.
Acceptance Testing
The Quality Assurance Team will conduct this type of test to determine if the application is meeting the specifications intended and if it meets client requirements. This will include several test cases and scenarios that have been pre-written by the QA team. The application will receive more attention and be tested to determine its accuracy, and why it was created.
The acceptance tests will not just point out spelling errors or cosmetic mistakes or interface gaps but any major bugs that could cause system crashes or errors within the application. The testing team can reduce the performance of the application in production by performing acceptance tests. Acceptance of the system is also subject to legal and contract requirements.
Alpha Testing
The first test will be done by the two teams, the developer and the QA team. Alpha testing is the combination of unit testing, system testing, and integration testing. In this phase, the following will be checked in the application:
- Spelling Mistakes
- Broken Links
- Cloudy Directions
- Tests will be performed on the machines that have the lowest specifications to determine loading time and latency issues.
Tests That Are Not Functional
This section is about testing the application based on its non-functional characteristics. The non-functional test involves testing software based on requirements that are not functional but still important, such as security, performance, and user interface. Below are some of the most important non-functional test types.
Performance Testing
This tool is used more to find bottlenecks and performance problems than bugs. Different factors can lower the performance of software:
- Network delay
- Processing on the client's side.
- Transaction processing database.
- Balance the load between servers.
- Data rendering.
In terms of these aspects, performance testing is one of the most important and compulsory testing types.
- Response Time (or data rendering and accessing) Speed.
- Capacity
- Stability
- Scalability
The performance testing is either quantitative or qualitative and it can be subdivided into several types, such as Stress and Load Testing.
Load Testing
This is the process by which a program's behavior can be tested. The software will access and manipulate large amounts of data. This can be performed at normal or peak loads. The software's maximum capacity and behavior during peak times are determined by this type of testing.
Load testing is usually performed using automated tools, such as Load Runner or AppLoader. The automated test tool defines virtual users (VUsers), and then the script executes to check the software load tests. Depending on the needs, you can increase or decrease users simultaneously or in incremental steps.
Stress Test
The behavior of software is tested under unusual conditions. It may involve removing some resources or applying loads that exceed the limit. Stress testing is a way to find the point of failure by stressing the system by running the program and consuming all the available resources. The testing is done by testing various scenarios, such as:
- Random shutdown or restarting of network ports.
- The database can be turned on or off.
- Running multiple processes which consume CPU, memory and server resources.
Tests of Usability
It is an observational technique that is done to find any errors or improvements within the software. Usability, according to a report, can be described in five different ways, including Efficiency of use, Learn-ability and Memory-ability. Errors/Safety. Satisfaction. We believe that a system or product is useful if they possess the factors above.
UI vs Usability Testing
UI Testing involves the testing of the Graphical User Interface of the Software. UI testing makes sure that the GUI is working according to requirements. It also tests color, alignment, and size. Usability testing, on the other hand, ensures that a GUI is easy to use and friendly. UI testing is a part of usability tests.
Conclusion
In 2023, we will be witnessing unprecedented technological and digital changes. Individuals and organizations need to be aware of industry developments. These software testing trends will allow test professionals to remain ahead of their peers.
