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Types of Software Testing

Testing is the process of executing a program to find errors. To make our software perform well it should be error-free. If testing is done successfully it will remove all the errors from the software. In this article, we will discuss first the principles of testing and then we will discuss, the different types of testing.

Principles of Testing

Types of Software Testing

Different Types of Software Testing

  1. Manual Testing
  2. Automation Testing

1. Manual Testing

Manual testing is a technique to test the software that is carried out using the functions and features of an application. In manual software testing, a tester carries out tests on the software by following a set of predefined test cases. In this testing, testers make test cases for the codes, test the software, and give the final report about that software. Manual testing is time-consuming because it is done by humans, and there is a chance of human errors.



Advantages of Manual Testing:

2. Automation Testing

Automated Testing is a technique where the Tester writes scripts on their own and uses suitable Software or Automation Tool to test the software. It is an Automation Process of a Manual Process. It allows for executing repetitive tasks without the intervention of a Manual Tester.

Advantages of Automation Testing:

Types of Manual Testing

  1. White Box Testing
  2. Black Box Testing
  3. Gray Box Testing

1. White Box Testing

White box testing techniques analyze the internal structures the used data structures, internal design, code structure, and the working of the software rather than just the functionality as in black box testing. It is also called glass box testing clear box testing or structural testing. White Box Testing is also known as transparent testing or open box testing. 



White box testing is a software testing technique that involves testing the internal structure and workings of a software application. The tester has access to the source code and uses this knowledge to design test cases that can verify the correctness of the software at the code level.

Advantages of Whitebox Testing:

2. Black Box Testing

Black-box testing is a type of software testing in which the tester is not concerned with the internal knowledge or implementation details of the software but rather focuses on validating the functionality based on the provided specifications or requirements.

Advantages of Black Box Testing:

3. Gray Box Testing

Gray Box Testing is a software testing technique that is a combination of the Black Box Testing technique and the White Box Testing technique.

  1. In the Black Box Testing technique, the tester is unaware of the internal structure of the item being tested and in White Box Testing the internal structure is known to the tester.
  2. The internal structure is partially known in Gray Box Testing.
  3. This includes access to internal data structures and algorithms to design the test cases. 

Advantages of Gray Box Testing:

  1. Clarity of goals: Users and developers have clear goals while doing testing.
  2. Done from a user perspective: Gray box testing is mostly done from the user perspective.
  3. High programming skills not required: Testers are not required to have high programming skills for this testing.
  4. Non-intrusive: Gray box testing is non-intrusive.
  5. Improved product quality: Overall quality of the product is improved.

Types of Black Box Testing

  1. Functional Testing
  2. Non-Functional Testing

1. Functional Testing

Functional Testing is a type of Software Testing in which the system is tested against the functional requirements and specifications. Functional testing ensures that the requirements or specifications are properly satisfied by the application. This type of testing is particularly concerned with the result of processing. It focuses on the simulation of actual system usage but does not develop any system structure assumptions. The article focuses on discussing function testing.

Benefits of Functional Testing:

2. Non-Functional Testing

Non-functional Testing is a type of Software Testing that is performed to verify the non-functional requirements of the application. It verifies whether the behavior of the system is as per the requirement or not. It tests all the aspects that are not tested in functional testing. Non-functional testing is a software testing technique that checks the non-functional attributes of the system. Non-functional testing is defined as a type of software testing to check non-functional aspects of a software application. It is designed to test the readiness of a system as per nonfunctional parameters which are never addressed by functional testing. Non-functional testing is as important as functional testing. 

Benefits of Non-functional Testing

Types of Functional Testing

  1. Unit Testing
  2. Integration Testing
  3. System Testing

1. Unit Testing

Unit testing is a method of testing individual units or components of a software application. It is typically done by developers and is used to ensure that the individual units of the software are working as intended. Unit tests are usually automated and are designed to test specific parts of the code, such as a particular function or method. Unit testing is done at the lowest level of the software development process, where individual units of code are tested in isolation.

Advantages of Unit Testing:

Some of the advantages of Unit Testing are listed below.

Note: Some popular frameworks and tools that are used for unit testing include JUnit, NUnit, and xUnit.

  • It’s important to keep in mind that Unit Testing is only one aspect of software testing and it should be used in combination with other types of testing such as integration testing, functional testing, and acceptance testing to ensure that the software meets the needs of its users.
  • It focuses on the smallest unit of software design. In this, we test an individual unit or group of interrelated units. It is often done by the programmer by using sample input and observing its corresponding outputs. 

Example:

  1. In a program we are checking if the loop, method, or function is working fine.
  2. Misunderstood or incorrect, arithmetic precedence.
  3. Incorrect initialization.

2. Integration Testing

Integration testing is a method of testing how different units or components of a software application interact with each other. It is used to identify and resolve any issues that may arise when different units of the software are combined. Integration testing is typically done after unit testing and before functional testing and is used to verify that the different units of the software work together as intended.

Different Ways of Performing Integration Testing:

Different ways of Integration Testing are discussed below.

Advantages of Integrating Testing

The objective is to take unit-tested components and build a program structure that has been dictated by design. Integration testing is testing in which a group of components is combined to produce output. 

Integration testing is of four types: (i) Top-down (ii) Bottom-up (iii) Sandwich (iv) Big-Bang

Example:

  1. Black Box testing: It is used for validation. In this, we ignore internal working mechanisms and focus on “what is the output?”
  2. White box testing: It is used for verification. In this, we focus on internal mechanisms i.e. how the output is achieved.

3. System Testing

System testing is a type of software testing that evaluates the overall functionality and performance of a complete and fully integrated software solution. It tests if the system meets the specified requirements and if it is suitable for delivery to the end-users. This type of testing is performed after the integration testing and before the acceptance testing.

System Testing is a type of software testing that is performed on a completely integrated system to evaluate the compliance of the system with the corresponding requirements. In system testing, integration testing passed components are taken as input. The goal of integration testing is to detect any irregularity between the units that are integrated. 

Advantages of System Testing:

Types of Integration Testing

  1. Incremental Testing
  2. Non-Incremental Testing

1. Incremental Testing

Like development, testing is also a phase of SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle). Different tests are performed at different stages of the development cycle. Incremental testing is one of the testing approaches that is commonly used in the software field during the testing phase of integration testing which is performed after unit testing. Several stubs and drivers are used to test the modules one after one which helps in discovering errors and defects in the specific modules. 

Advantages of Incremental Testing:

There are 2 Types of Incremental Testing

  1. Top-down Integration Testing
  2. Bottom-up Integration Testing

1. Top-down Integration Testing

Top-down testing is a type of incremental integration testing approach in which testing is done by integrating or joining two or more modules by moving down from top to bottom through the control flow of the architecture structure. In these, high-level modules are tested first, and then low-level modules are tested. Then, finally, integration is done to ensure that the system is working properly. Stubs and drivers are used to carry out this project. This technique is used to increase or stimulate the behavior of Modules that are not integrated into a lower level. 

Advantages Top Down Integration Testing

  1. There is no need to write drivers.
  2. Interface errors are identified at an early stage and fault localization is also easier.
  3. Low-level utilities that are not important are not tested well and high-level testers are tested well in an appropriate manner.
  4. Representation of test cases is easier and simpler once Input-Output functions are added.

2. Bottom-up Integration Testing

Bottom-up Testing is a type of incremental integration testing approach in which testing is done by integrating or joining two or more modules by moving upward from bottom to top through the control flow of the architecture structure. In these, low-level modules are tested first, and then high-level modules are tested. This type of testing or approach is also known as inductive reasoning and is used as a synthesis synonym in many cases. Bottom-up testing is user-friendly testing and results in an increase in overall software development. This testing results in high success rates with long-lasting results. 

Advantages of Bottom-up Integration Testing:

Types of Non-functional Testing

  1. Performance Testing
  2. Usability Testing
  3. Compatibility Testing

1. Performance Testing

Performance Testing is a type of software testing that ensures software applications perform properly under their expected workload. It is a testing technique carried out to determine system performance in terms of sensitivity, reactivity, and stability under a particular workload. 

Performance testing is a type of software testing that focuses on evaluating the performance and scalability of a system or application. The goal of performance testing is to identify bottlenecks, measure system performance under various loads and conditions, and ensure that the system can handle the expected number of users or transactions.

Advantages of Performance Testing:

2. Usability Testing

You design a product (say a refrigerator) and when it becomes completely ready, you need a potential customer to test it to check it working. To understand whether the machine is ready to come on the market, potential customers test the machines. Likewise, the best example of usability testing is when the software also undergoes various testing processes which is performed by potential users before launching into the market. It is a part of the software development lifecycle (SDLC).

Advantages and Disadvantages of Usability Testing:

Usability testing is preferred to evaluate a product or service by testing it with the proper users. In Usability testing, the development and design teams will use to identify issues before coding and the result will be earlier issues will be solved. During a Usability test, you can,

3. Compatibility Testing

Compatibility testing is software testing that comes under the non functional testing category, and it is performed on an application to check its compatibility (running capability) on different platforms/environments. This testing is done only when the application becomes stable. This means simply this compatibility test aims to check the developed software application functionality on various software, hardware platforms, networks browser etc. This compatibility testing is very important in product production and implementation point of view as it is performed to avoid future issues regarding compatibility.

Advantages of Compatibility Testing:

There are 4 Types of Performance Testing

  1. Load Testing
  2. Stress Testing
  3. Scalability Testing
  4. Stability Testing

1. Load Testing

Load testing determines the behavior of the application when multiple users use it at the same time. It is the response of the system measured under varying load conditions.

  1. The load testing is carried out for normal and extreme load conditions. 
  2. Load testing is a type of performance testing that simulates a real-world load on a system or application to see how it performs under stress.
  3. The goal of load testing is to identify bottlenecks and determine the maximum number of users or transactions the system can handle.
  4. It is an important aspect of software testing as it helps ensure that the system can handle the expected usage levels and identify any potential issues before the system is deployed to production.

Advantages of Load Testing:

Load testing has several advantages that make it an important aspect of software testing:

  1. Identifying bottlenecks: Load testing helps identify bottlenecks in the system such as slow database queries, insufficient memory, or network congestion. This helps developers optimize the system and ensure that it can handle the expected number of users or transactions.
  2. Improved scalability: By identifying the system’s maximum capacity, load testing helps ensure that the system can handle an increasing number of users or transactions over time. This is particularly important for web-based systems and applications that are expected to handle a high volume of traffic.
  3. Improved reliability: Load testing helps identify any potential issues that may occur under heavy load conditions, such as increased error rates or slow response times. This helps ensure that the system is reliable and stable when it is deployed to production.

2. Stress Testing

In Stress Testing, we give unfavorable conditions to the system and check how it perform in those conditions. 

Example:

  1. Test cases that require maximum memory or other resources are executed.
  2. Test cases that may cause thrashing in a virtual operating system.
  3. Test cases that may cause excessive disk requirement Performance Testing.

It is designed to test the run-time performance of software within the context of an integrated system. It is used to test the speed and effectiveness of the program. It is also called load testing. In it, we check, what is the performance of the system in the given load.

Example: 

Checking several processor cycles.

3. Scalability Testing

Scalability Testing is a type of non-functional testing in which the performance of a software application, system, network, or process is tested in terms of its capability to scale up or scale down the number of user request load or other such performance attributes. It can be carried out at a hardware, software or database level. Scalability Testing is defined as the ability of a network, system, application, product or a process to perform the function correctly when changes are made in the size or volume of the system to meet a growing need. It ensures that a software product can manage the scheduled increase in user traffic, data volume, transaction counts frequency, and many other things. It tests the system, processes, or database’s ability to meet a growing need. 

Advantages of Scalability Testing:

4. Stability Testing

Stability Testing is a type of Software Testing to checks the quality and behavior of the software under different environmental parameters. It is defined as the ability of the product to continue to function over time without failure. 

It is a Non-functional Testing technique that focuses on stressing the software component to the maximum. Stability testing is done to check the efficiency of a developed product beyond normal operational capacity which is known as break point. It has higher significance in error handling, software reliability, robustness, and scalability of a product under heavy load rather than checking the system behavior under normal circumstances. 

Stability testing assesses stability problems. This testing is mainly intended to check whether the application will crash at any point in time or not. 

Advantages of Stability Testing:

  1. It gives the limit of the data that a system can handle practically.
  2. It provides confidence on the performance of the system.
  3. It determines the stability and robustness of the system under load.
  4. Stability testing leads to a better end-user experience.

Other Types of Testing

  1. Smoke Testing
  2. Sanity Testing
  3. Regression Testing
  4. Acceptance Testing
  5. User Acceptance Testing
  6. Exploratory Testing
  7. Adhoc Testing
  8. Security Testing
  9. Globalization Testing
  10. Regression Testing
  11. Smoke Testing
  12. Alpha Testing
  13. Beta Testing
  14. Object-Oriented Testing

1. Smoke Testing

Smoke Testing is done to make sure that the software under testing is ready or stable for further testing 
It is called a smoke test as the testing of an initial pass is done to check if it did not catch fire or smoke in the initial switch-on. 

Example: 

If the project has 2 modules so before going to the module make sure that module 1 works properly.

Advantages of Smoke Testing:

  1. Smoke testing is easy to perform.
  2. It helps in identifying defects in the early stages.
  3. It improves the quality of the system.
  4. Smoke testing reduces the risk of failure.
  5. Smoke testing makes progress easier to access.

2. Sanity Testing

It is a subset of regression testing. Sanity testing is performed to ensure that the code changes that are made are working properly. Sanity testing is a stoppage to check whether testing for the build can proceed or not. The focus of the team during the sanity testing process is to validate the functionality of the application and not detailed testing. Sanity testing is generally performed on a build where the production deployment is required immediately like a critical bug fix. 

Advantages of Sanity Testing:

3. Regression Testing

The process of testing the modified parts of the code and the parts that might get affected due to the modifications ensures that no new errors have been introduced in the software after the modifications have been made. Regression means the return of something and in the software field, it refers to the return of a bug.

Advantages of Regression Testing:

4. Acceptance Testing

Acceptance testing is done by the customers to check whether the delivered products perform the desired tasks or not, as stated in the requirements. We use Object-Oriented Testing for discussing test plans and for executing the projects.

Advantages of Acceptance Testing:

  1. This testing helps the project team to know the further requirements of the users directly as it involves the users for testing.
  2. Automated test execution.
  3. It brings confidence and satisfaction to the clients as they are directly involved in the testing process.
  4. It is easier for the user to describe their requirement.
  5. It covers only the Black-Box testing process and hence the entire functionality of the product will be tested.

5. User Acceptance Testing

User Acceptance Testing is a testing methodology where clients/end users participate in product testing to validate the product against their requirements. It is done at the client’s site on the developer’s site. For industries such as medicine or aerospace, contractual and regulatory compliance testing, and operational acceptance tests are also performed as part of user acceptance tests. UAT is context-dependent and UAT plans are prepared based on requirements and are not required to perform all kinds of user acceptance tests and are even coordinated and contributed by the testing team.

6. Exploratory Testing

Exploratory Testing is a type of software testing in which the tester is free to select any possible methodology to test the software. It is an unscripted approach to software testing. In exploratory testing, software developers use their learning, knowledge, skills, and abilities to test the software developed by themselves. Exploratory testing checks the functionality and operations of the software as well as identifies the functional and technical faults in it. Exploratory testing aims to optimize and improve the software in every possible way.

Advantages of Exploratory Testing:

7. Adhoc Testing

Adhoc testing is a type of software testing that is performed informally and randomly after the formal testing is completed to find any loophole in the system. For this reason, it is also known as Random or Monkey testing. Adhoc testing is not performed in a structured way so it is not based on any methodological approach. That’s why Adhoc testing is a type of Unstructured Software Testing. 

Advantages of Adhoc testing:

8. Security Testing

Security Testing is a type of Software Testing that uncovers vulnerabilities in the system and determines that the data and resources of the system are protected from possible intruders. It ensures that the software system and application are free from any threats or risks that can cause a loss. Security testing of any system is focused on finding all possible loopholes and weaknesses of the system that might result in the loss of information or repute of the organization.

Advantages of Security Testing:

  1. Identifying vulnerabilities: Security testing helps identify vulnerabilities in the system that could be exploited by attackers, such as weak passwords, unpatched software, and misconfigured systems.
  2. Improving system security: Security testing helps improve the overall security of the system by identifying and fixing vulnerabilities and potential threats.
  3. Ensuring compliance: Security testing helps ensure that the system meets relevant security standards and regulations, such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, and SOC2.

9. Globalization Testing

Globalization Testing is a type of software testing that is performed to ensure the system or software application can function independently of the geographical and cultural environment. It ensures that the application can be used all over the world and accepts all language texts. Nowadays with the increase in various technologies, every software product is designed in such a way that it is a globalized software product. 

Benefits of Globalization Testing:

10. Regression Testing

Regression testing is a method of testing that is used to ensure that changes made to the software do not introduce new bugs or cause existing functionality to break. It is typically done after changes have been made to the code, such as bug fixes or new features, and is used to verify that the software still works as intended.

Regression testing can be performed in different ways, such as:

Advantages of Regression Testing

Every time a new module is added leads to changes in the program. This type of testing makes sure that the whole component works properly even after adding components to the complete program. 

Example:

In school records, suppose we have module staff, students, and finance combining these modules and checking if the integration of these modules works fine in regression testing.

11. Smoke Testing

Smoke Testing is done to make sure that the software under testing is ready or stable for further testing 
It is called a smoke test as the testing of an initial pass is done to check if it did not catch fire or smoke in the initial switch-on. 

Example: 

If the project has 2 modules so before going to the module make sure that module 1 works properly.

12. Alpha Testing

Alpha testing is a type of validation testing. It is a type of acceptance testing that is done before the product is released to customers. It is typically done by QA people. 

Example: 

When software testing is performed internally within the organisation.

13. Beta Testing

The beta test is conducted at one or more customer sites by the end-user of the software. This version is released for a limited number of users for testing in a real-time environment.

Example: 

When software testing is performed for the limited number of people.

14. Object-Oriented Testing

Object-Oriented Testing testing is a combination of various testing techniques that help to verify and validate object-oriented software. This testing is done in the following manner: 

Advantages of Software Testing

  1. Improved software quality and reliability.
  2. Early identification and fixing of defects.
  3. Improved customer satisfaction.
  4. Increased stakeholder confidence.
  5. Reduced maintenance costs.
  6. Customer Satisfaction
  7. Cost Effective
  8. Quality Product
  9. Low Failure
  10. Bug-Free Application
  11. Security
  12. Speed Up the Development Process
  13. Early Defect Detection
  14. Reliable Product

Disadvantages of Software Testing

Questions For Practice

1. With respect to Software Testing, consider a flow graph G with one connected component. Let E be the number of edges, N be the number of nodes, and P be the number of predicate nodes of G. Consider the following four expressions: [GATE IT -2006]

The Cyclomatic Complexity of G is Given by

Solution: Correct Answer is (C).

Frequently Asked Questions related to Software Testing

1. What is a Test Case?

Ans: Test Cases can be simply determined as conditions that a tester will check whether the code runs perfectly or not.

2. What is the use of automation testing?

Ans: Automation Testing is used to reduce the testing efforts, also testing faster delivering capability.

3. What is the difference between manual and automated testing?

Ans: Manual testing involves a human tester interacting with the software to find bugs. Automated testing uses scripts or tools to automate repetitive test cases.

4. When should I use manual vs. automated testing?

Ans: Use manual testing for exploratory testing, usability evaluation, and complex scenarios. Use automated testing for repetitive tasks, regression testing, and performance testing.

5. What are some tools used for software testing?

Answer: Many tools are available for software testing, including test management tools, automation frameworks, and performance testing tools. The specific tools used depend on the project and testing needs.


Article Tags :
GBlog
Software Engineering
Software Testing
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