Software Testing Strategies

Software testing is the process of evaluating a software application to identify if it meets specified requirements and to identify any defects. The following are common testing strategies:

1. Black box testing – Tests the functionality of the software without looking at the internal code structure.
2. White box testing – Tests the internal code structure and logic of the software.
3. Unit testing – Tests individual units or components of the software to ensure they are functioning as intended.
4. Integration testing – Tests the integration of different components of the software to ensure they work together as a system.
5. Functional testing – Tests the functional requirements of the software to ensure they are met.
6. System testing – Tests the complete software system to ensure it meets the specified requirements.
7. Acceptance testing – Tests the software to ensure it meets the customer’s or end-user’s expectations.
8. Regression testing – Tests the software after changes or modifications have been made to ensure the changes have not introduced new defects.
9. Performance testing – Tests the software to determine its performance characteristics such as speed, scalability, and stability.
10. Security testing – Tests the software to identify vulnerabilities and ensure it meets security requirements.

Software Testing is a type of investigation to find out if there is any default or error present in the software so that the errors can be reduced or removed to increase the quality of the software and to check whether it fulfills the specifies requirements or not. 
According to Glen Myers, software testing has the following objectives:

• The process of investigating and checking a program to find whether there is an error or not and does it fulfill the requirements or not is called testing.
• When the number of errors found during the testing is high, it indicates that the testing was good and is a sign of good test case.
• Finding an unknown error that wasn’t discovered yet is a sign of a successful and a good test case.

The main objective of software testing is to design the tests in such a way that it systematically finds different types of errors without taking much time and effort so that less time is required for the development of the software. The overall strategy for testing software includes:

1. Before testing starts, it’s necessary to identify and specify the requirements of the product in a quantifiable manner. Different characteristics quality of the software is there such as maintainability that means the ability to update and modify, the probability that means to find and estimate any risk, and usability that means how it can easily be used by the customers or end-users. All these characteristic qualities should be specified in a particular order to obtain clear test results without any error.
2. Specifying the objectives of testing in a clear and detailed manner. Several objectives of testing are there such as effectiveness that means how effectively the software can achieve the target, any failure that means inability to fulfill the requirements and perform functions, and the cost of defects or errors that mean the cost required to fix the error. All these objectives should be clearly mentioned in the test plan.
3. For the software, identifying the user’s category and developing a profile for each user. Use cases describe the interactions and communication among different classes of users and the system to achieve the target. So as to identify the actual requirement of the users and then testing the actual use of the product.
4. Developing a test plan to give value and focus on rapid-cycle testing. Rapid Cycle Testing is a type of test that improves quality by identifying and measuring the any changes that need to be required for improving the process of software. Therefore, a test plan is an important and effective document that helps the tester to perform rapid cycle testing.
5. Robust software is developed that is designed to test itself. The software should be capable of detecting or identifying different classes of errors. Moreover, software design should allow automated and regression testing which tests the software to find out if there is any adverse or side effect on the features of software due to any change in code or program.
6. Before testing, using effective formal reviews as a filter. Formal technical reviews is technique to identify the errors that are not discovered yet. The effective technical reviews conducted before testing reduces a significant amount of testing efforts and time duration required for testing software so that the overall development time of software is reduced.
7. Conduct formal technical reviews to evaluate the nature, quality or ability of the test strategy and test cases. The formal technical review helps in detecting any unfilled gap in the testing approach. Hence, it is necessary to evaluate the ability and quality of the test strategy and test cases by technical reviewers to improve the quality of software.
8. For the testing process, developing a approach for the continuous development. As a part of a statistical process control approach, a test strategy that is already measured should be used for software testing to measure and control the quality during the development of software.

Advantages or Disadvantages:

Advantages of software testing:

1. Improves software quality and reliability – Testing helps to identify and fix defects early in the development process, reducing the risk of failure or unexpected behavior in the final product.
2. Enhances user experience – Testing helps to identify usability issues and improve the overall user experience.
3. Increases confidence – By testing the software, developers and stakeholders can have confidence that the software meets the requirements and works as intended.
4. Facilitates maintenance – By identifying and fixing defects early, testing makes it easier to maintain and update the software.
5. Reduces costs – Finding and fixing defects early in the development process is less expensive than fixing them later in the life cycle.

Disadvantages of software testing:

1. Time-consuming – Testing can take a significant amount of time, particularly if thorough testing is performed.
2. Resource-intensive – Testing requires specialized skills and resources, which can be expensive.
3. Limited coverage – Testing can only reveal defects that are present in the test cases, and it is possible for defects to be missed.
4. Unpredictable results – The outcome of testing is not always predictable, and defects can be hard to replicate and fix.
5. Delays in delivery – Testing can delay the delivery of the software if testing takes longer than expected or if significant defects are identified.