What is Software Testing?

Software Testing:

Welcome to another new post of the manual testing tutorial series. In this post, we are going to learn what software testing is. Before sharing the knowledge about software testing, let me ask you a straightforward question: Do you know what software testing is, or have you any prior knowledge of software testing?

if you don’t have any knowledge of software testing, then there is no need to worry because in this post, we are going to share software testing in detail and also we are going to discuss:

• What is Software Testing?
• What is the definition of software testing?
• Why is Software Testing Important?
• Why do we need Testing?
• Principles of Software Testing
• What are the different types of software testing?
• Various methods are available in software testing
• what are the different approaches in software testing
• Software Testing Life Cycle

Let’s Start discussing the above things individually and try to understand them easily with some real-time examples.

What is a Software?

Let me first explain what software is. So, the software is nothing but setup instructions, data, or programs used to operate a computer and execute specific tasks. We know that hardware represents the physical aspects of a computer in the same manner software is a generic term that uses refund applications, scripts, and programs that run a device.

Software is a generic term for programs or instructions that tell computer hardware how to operate. Computer software can be divided into two categories:

• Applications are the specific programs people use on their computers. Examples include web browsers, word processors, games, and music players.
• Systems software includes basic tools, such as compilers, that allow applications to run.

What is Software Testing?

Software Testing is the process of evaluating software products for defects, deficiencies, or errors. Testing aims to uncover any problems with the product before it begins operation (i.e. after being delivered to its end users). This ensures that all the customers receive quality products free from faults and errors. Software Testing is an essential part of quality assurance.

Software Testing is also known as QA Testing and software validation. Software testing does not necessarily mean only looking for bugs or defects in a software program. In its broadest sense, software testing can be defined as a process of executing a program to find errors (bugs).

Software Testing is performed with the objective to detect software failures so that defects may be identified and corrected. Software Testing is not limited to looking for bugs only; it includes all activities to evaluate an application for compliance with its design. The main purpose of software testing is to identify bugs in the application and provide a mechanism for removal or correction.

Definition of Software Testing

As we have discussed, Software testing is a process of verifying and validating the developed application that is bug-free and meets or satisfies the user requirement described during the development and design stage.

Here, the aims of software testing are not only to find the application’s defects but also to find the gaps to improve efficiency, accuracy, and usability.

As per the ANSI/IEEE 1059 standard definition, Software Testing Means

Why do we need Software Testing?

The answer is very simple – we need Software Testing to ensure that the software customers use doesn’t crash and has no bugs. That’s what all people who are coding software also want. They want their code bug-free, but this is not always true.

In reality, software is a complex discipline involving the knowledge and skills of many different disciplines. For example, if you want your software to be perfect, you need good coders (software developers), but in addition, you also need testers who will make sure that the code works as it should work – bug-free. The main reason for hiring software testing companies is to avoid mistakes that could cost you a lot of money.

There are many other factors which we have discussed below:

• Cost-Effective: Testing any software application on time can save time and money. Because if you don’t test the application at an early stage and you test your application later, at that time, if you find many bugs. Then, it will cost more and impact the delivery of your product because it will require more time to fix those bugs, which may impact other application modules.
• Security: It is one of the most sensitive parts of testing any software application. Because every user tries to use a trusted application on which they can rely. So, by software testing, we can find the risks and problems in that application.
• Product Quality: Whatever the Software application we are developing, it should work as planned. We need to follow the product requirements because we can get the required results by observing them.
• Customer Satisfaction: The Main goal of any organization or product owner is to give the best to their customer, satisfying the application. So, to achieve this, the software needs to be tested so that we can bring the best user experience to the consumers.

Software Testing Principles

Fundamental testing principles help test teams get the most out of their time and effort during the process. By applying fundamental principles, tests can be performed more efficiently and effectively. Fundamental principles apply to all types of testing— black box, white box, performance, load, security, and more.

Some fundamental principles are obvious, some not so much. Some are easy to adopt; others can be more difficult. All of them will make a positive contribution to the test strategy employed by your team.

The following list represents a set of fundamental principles that should help test teams get better results, reduce risk, and ultimately gain confidence in their testing activities. Adopting these philosophies will take you and your team to the next level.

• Software testing can help detect bugs: Once the Application is developed, it is recommended to test the application because there are chances of getting defects that the developers may not identify. So, the testers created the Test cases for the application with the various scenarios and tried to find as many defects in the application as possible.
• Early testing: The earlier you start the testing for an application or project, you will find the defects in the earlier stages only by which you can fix those effects with less effort.
• Error-free or Bug-free software is a myth: Just testing an application by the testers, and if they don’t find any defects in the application, it does not imply that your software is ready for shipping.

We have written a detailed post about the Software Testers Principles of Testing, and you can follow the link for that article.

Software Testing Types OR Types of Testing

Various types of testing are present to verify whether your product is working as expected. but all those tests are categorized into main types:

• Manual Testing
• Automation Testing

Manual Testing:

The first stage of testing is manual testing. The tester who does the manual testing is called a “Manual Tester”. Most, if not all, professional testers do some form of manual testing, even if they are using automated tools for other types of tests.

The purpose of Manual Testing is to validate the business objective that has been mentioned for the respective product. Manual testing is a manual process that does not use any automatic tools.

Development and testers can also do manual testing, but Only Software testers do this testing because they know their product better than others.

In manual testing, the person has to simulate the application’s business flow or the whole software functionality to validate the defect that occurs in this business flow with a good experience.

Automation Testing:

Automation Testing is an automated software testing process that reduces manual test efforts. It is performed by a tool or script, and the developer has limited to no involvement during the execution of this activity.

Automation Testing became popular when it was observed that Manual Software Test Engineers were not able to achieve maximum productivity due to the following reasons:-

It also consumes more time with repetitive tasks and planning before performing them manually. This leads to a waste of money if done frequently with the same quality standard.

After observing all these disadvantages, there came automation testing, where Computers are used as intelligent performing devices. Although machines can’t think like humans, they have some characteristics that are useful for testers to perform activities similar to those we do manually, but at a much faster speed with fewer errors.

We have discussed the types of testing in detail in a separate post. you can read that.

Testing Methods

During testing any application, we came across two different testing methods, that is:

• Static Testing
• Dynamic Testing

Static Testing:  In software testing, static testing is one of the testing techniques carried out without executing the code. Such type of testing is coming under verification. In static testing, we check the files and documents like test cases, software requirement specifications (SRS), test plans, and other testing artifacts.

So, we are verifying all these testing documents to ensure we’re building the correct software product per the specification document. Three testing techniques are followable to check the document’s completeness and correctness. those techniques are

• Walkthrough: This means checking a document by reading from the first page to the last page
• Inspection: In this technique, we are checking a document by searching for some specific factors
• Peer review: In this technique, we verify the document by comparing two similar documents.

These three document testing techniques are called static testing techniques or review techniques.

Dynamic Testing: Like static testing, dynamic testing is also a software testing technique. Here, testing is carried out by executing the code. This type of testing is coming under validation. We validate the software product to meet the client’s requirements in this process.

Testing Approaches

Different types of software testing approaches are present. Still, all software testing approaches aim to ensure that the final product meets the requested criteria and is bug-free.

best open this the software testing approach is categorized into three different types:

• White Box Testing
• Black Box Testing
• Grey Box Testing

Black Box Testing: In black-box testing, the QA tester gives some input to the software product and looks for the specified outputs. The idea behind the name is that the content of the code Under test is unknown to the test case, and, by definition, the QA tester is the only one concerned with the functional verification.

This black box testing also has some other names, such as Behavioral/Specification-Based/Input-Output Testing. In this testing, the tester tests the application’s functionality without looking at the internal code structure.

White Box Testing: In white-box testing, the tester knows precisely what is going on with the code under the test, and tests are executed primarily to verify the robot of the code rather than its absolute functionality.

This white box testing is carried out at the beginning of the development process by doing unit tests and the early part of the integration phase.

Different synonyms are available for this testing: Glass Box, Clear Box, and Structural Testing. This testing is conducted based on the internal application code. For this testing, the resource has a good knowledge of Programming skills. This type of testing is carried out at the unit level.

Grey Box Testing: This grey box testing combines white box testing. This type of testing is conducted when the software product is moving toward the end of the integration phase and the beginning of usability.

Different Testing Levels

Before delivering or releasing a software product, it undergoes a thorough testing process to ensure the final product works as expected. So, to ensure that the hit module or the software product is working as expected, the software application passes through 4 stages after testing:

• Unit Testing
• Integration Testing
• System Testing
• Acceptance Testing

Unit Testing: This testing is carried out to check whether the individual module’s code is working correctly. Developers mainly do this testing while developing that application. This is also called Module Testing or Component Testing.

Integration Testing: In this testing, we combine different modules as a single unit and test the application connectivity and data transfer between different modules. Integration Testing is again divided into Top-Down Approach, Bottom-Up Approach, and Sandwich Approach.

System Testing (End-to-End testing): This testing is one of the black box testing techniques. We are testing the complete application form end to end to ensure the application works correctly after integrating all the modules.

Acceptance Testing: In this testing, we obtain the customer sign-off so that software can be delivered and payments can be received. A few acceptance testing types exist, like Alpha, Beta, and gamma Testing.

Types of Balck Box Testing

As mentioned above, the user tests the application’s functionality in black-box testing. According to that, we have two types of Balck Box Testing, That is:

• Functionality Testing
• Non-functionality Testing

Functionality Testing: In this type, we verify the application’s functionality and whether the software application behaves as mentioned in the requirement documents. We are testing the feature by giving the appropriate input to verify whether it gives us the expected result. The testers do not need to worry about the application’s source code.

Non-functional testing: Here, we are not testing application functionality. We are testing other aspects like performance, load, stress, scalability, security, compatibility, etc. Here, the main focus is determining how to improve the user experience and how fast the system responds to a request.

Testing Artifacts

Testing artifacts is an integral part of software testing. These testing artifacts are prepared during the process of software testing. And finally, digit testing attributes are said with the clients, stakeholders, team manager, team lead, and team members.

Before delivering the Software or project, it goes through many stages or cycles called SDLC. So, during each phase, we are getting some deliverables. Some of the testing deliverables are:

• Test plan
• Traceability matrix
• Test case
• Test script
• Test suite
• Test data
• Test harness

When do we Stop Testing?

When someone asks you when you stop testing, it’s tough to answer this because no one knows when errors are not occurring. because one can never be sure when an error or a fault will occur in software. However, some standards help us determine the testing closely. That is:

• Sufficient pass percentage: It depends on the stakeholder, but the testing can be stopped when the test case pass percentage reaches a certain level.
• After a successful test case execution: After a complete cycle of test cases executed after the last known bug fix.
• On meeting deadline: No high-priority bugs exist if the project deadline is met.

Software Testing Companies

Nowadays, many big MNC companies are providing software testing services to two other core software development companies. thought about some of the big companies who are on the list offering this type of assistance:

• Capgemini
• Wipro
• Cognizant
• Infosys
• TCS
• HCL and Many more

Software Testing Interview Questions

We understand that most QA testers are looking for software testing interview questions. Remember that you have collected from various online resources and also from inspectors who have to attend multiple positions in software testing companies. You can follow those questions by using our software testing interview question link.

Conclusion:

After going through this post, I hope you get a little idea about software testing. This is an oval post about software testing, but if you want to learn more about software testing, you can follow our manual testing series, which tries to cover all the concepts of manual testing or software testing.