Different Types of Software Testing You Need To Know

Testing of software means finding bugs in the software.This phase is very important phase of Software development life cycle. In this blog we have covered different types of software testing with real-life examples.

Software Testing is a process that checks whether the actual software product or application matches the customer prerequisite. To ensure that software is defect-free and does what it is supposed to do, teams must understand and perform the different types of software testing. Knowing when to apply these techniques helps release high-quality software products. In this blog, we will discuss the different types of software testing, 

Before we dive into the types of software testing, let’s take a look at the definition and importance of software testing.

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Definition of Software Testing

Software testing is a method that validates that software or application meets the technical requirements as well as the user requirements effectively and efficiently. It helps find errors and gaps in the developed software product or application. Testing is an essential step before the release and launch of the product. It involves examination, analysis, observation, and evaluation of different aspects of a software product. The end goal of testing is to deliver a quality software product to the customer.

 

Table of contents

 

• Why software testing is important?
• Types of Software testing 
  • Manual testing
    • Black box testing
    • White box testing
    • Grey box testing
  • Automation testing
  • Functional testing
    • Unit testing
    • Integration testing
    • System testing
  • Non functional testing
    • Performance testing
    • Compatibility testing
    • Usability testing
• Conclusion

 

Why software testing is important?

 

Software testing is a technique to find bugs in the software and to enhance various aspects of the software, such as performance, user experience, security, and so on. Software testing is the verification of the software if it functions properly and meets written requirements specifications.

 

Software testing is important because software bugs and errors can be identified and fixed early, before the software product is shipped. Properly tested software products ensure reliability, security, and high performance, leading to time savings, cost efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

 

 

 

 

 

To learn more about Software Testing, read our post – What is Software Testing?

 

Types of Software testing 

 

 

1. Manual testing

 

 

The purpose of The purpose of manual testing is to uncover any defects in the software product by manually inspecting individual functions. The software testing scenario is highly iterative, where test functions are repeated until a desired level of accuracy is achieved. This process can be iterative or granular, where the desired debugging level works only when an actual program is running. A manual test can be as simple as copying and pasting the code from one place to another or as complex as writing a test case and running it hundreds of times.

 

a) Black box testing

 

 

In black box testing, engineers don’t see the black box and only see the inputs, outputs, and hardware components that support them.

 

For example-When, a user clicks on a registration page; then, black box testing verifies if that registration page is opening and all the features on that page are working or not.

 

b) White box testing

 

White-box testing is a technique that allows testers to view and access an application’s internal structure or code. Using this technique, you can easily find loopholes in your application’s design and flaws in your business logic. In white box testing, elements of a software system, such as functions, functions, steps, or methods, are visible to the end user.
For example, If there is a registration page in a website then the tester is concerned about understanding the code for the registration page. He is concerned about which functions and classes are being called and when.

 

c) Grey box testing

 

Grey box testing, as the name suggests, is a combination of white-box and black-box testing. Testers don’t have complete knowledge of the internal structure or code of the application.
The testing is done based on high-level database diagrams and data flow diagrams.
The purpose of grey box testing is to find and isolate bugs resulting from improper code structure or application usage.
This process often identifies context-specific errors related to web systems. Expand your testing by focusing on all layers of a complex system.

Also explore: What Does A Software Engineer Do? Roles, Responsibilities, and Skills

Also explore: Software Engineer Online Courses & Certifications

2. Automation testing

On the other hand, automated tests are run by a machine running a previously written test script. These tests vary in complexity, from checking one of the methods in a class to verifying the performance of a complex set of actions in the user interface. Although much more robust and reliable than manual tests, the quality of automated tests depends on how well the test scripts are written.So expertise is required to write the test scripts.

Functional testing

1. Unit Testing

Unit testing is software testing run against a single unit or component to test modifications. Developers typically perform unit tests during the development stage of an application. Each test unit can be viewed as a method, function, procedure, or object. Developers often use NUnit, Xunit, JUnit, and other test automation tools for running tests.

For example-If, an e-commerce website is developed. Its different modules/units like login page, registration page, adding/removing items in cart, payment page, etc., are checked by developers one by one.

2. Integration testing

Integration testing is software testing that logically groups two or more modules of an application and tests them as a whole. This type of testing focuses on finding faults in interfaces, communications, and data flow between modules.

For example- A user purchases items on an e-commerce website. Users can see item and payment information, but item details and payment processing are two different systems. Integration testing should be performed during the integration of the e-commerce website with the payment processing system. It is of two types:

a) Incremental testing

This testing involves testing each module individually during the unit testing phase and then integrating and testing the modules incrementally to ensure that the interfaces and interactions between modules are smooth. 

 

In this approach, each module is gradually combined, i.e., Added one at a time until all modules or components are logically added to create the desired application, rather than integrating the entire system at once and then testing the final product. For example- 

1. Module 1 + Module 2
2. Module 1 + Module 2 + Module 3
3. Module 1 + Module 2 + Module 3 + Module 4

b) Non incremental testing

The non-incremental approach is also known as “Big-Bang” testing. Non-incremental integration testing combines all the modules at a shot and tests the data flow between these modules. It won’t be easy to identify which is the parent module and which is the child module.

3. System testing

System testing is the level of testing that verifies a fully integrated software product. The purpose of system testing is to evaluate end-to-end system specifications. For example- Check the performance of all modules of e-commerce if they are working correctly.

Non functional testing

 

 

Non-functional testing is testing non-functional aspects of an application like performance, reliability, usability, security, etc. Non-functional tests follow functional tests.Non-functional testing can significantly improve the quality of your software. Functional testing also improves quality, but non-functional testing allows us to improve our software further. This type of testing is not about whether the software works. Instead, it’s about how well the software works and more.Different types of non functional testing:

1. Performance testing
2. Usability testing
3. Compatibility testing

1. Performance testing

Performance testing is a software testing process used to test the speed, response time, stability, reliability, scalability, and resource utilization of software applications under specific workloads. The main purpose of performance testing is to identify and eliminate performance bottlenecks in software applications.

a) Stress testing

A stress test is a sequence of automated functions that measure the impact of changes on system performance and then report their results.

Stress-based testing adds pressure to the system and looks for flaws when a system fails under pressure. This style of testing is typically used on large projects where time is not limited. Under pressure, tests stress systems by increasing project deadlines or adding more people to a team working on the project. This method forces developers to spot issues with their software under stress; it’s advantageous when working on critical systems that have life or death implications if they fail under pressure. Of course, this testing requires more resources, so teams typically apply this technique only when necessary.

b) load testing

A stress test tests an application’s stability and response time by applying a load equal to or less than the number of users intended to have.

For example, if your application handles 500 users concurrently with a 4-second response time, you can apply a load of 500 users or less than 500 users to run the load test. The goal is to check if the application responds within 4 seconds for every user.

c) Scalability testing

The amount of data an application can handle is called its scalability requirement. Scalability testing applies more load than the application’s intended number of users to test the stability and responsiveness of the application.

For example, if your application handles 1500 users concurrently with a 2-second response time, apply a load of over 1500 users and gradually increase the number of users to find exactly where your application is crashing.

• 1500 users -2 sec
• 1600 users -2 sec
• 3000 users -3 sec
• 5000 users -45 sec
• 5550 users- crash – This is the point that needs to identify in scalability testing

2. Compatibility testing

This is a type of testing that checks how software behaves and performs in  different environments, web servers, hardware and network environments. 

Compatibility testing ensures that your software can run on different configurations, different databases, different browsers, and versions of them. The test team conducts compatibility testing.

For example, if your application has a response time of 3 seconds and handles 500 users concurrently, you can apply a load of over 1000 users to perform a stress test. Test your application and record the response time. The purpose is to verify the stability of the application under load.

3. Usability testing

Usable testing is the testing of an application to decide whether the application meet the requirements. There are many tools that provide basic usage information, such as the usage graphs for a feature, but users must go deeper to determine if the application is useful. Usability testing tests your application from the user’s perspective to verify its appearance and usability. 

For example, you have a mobile app for booking railway tickets, and testers run usability tests. Testers will check if Scroll bars work vertically, the app background color should be black, and prices should be in red color and the booked seats should be in grey color and the click should be disabled for booked seats. 

Conclusion 

The types of software testing described above are just a small part of testing.

However, while we still have a list of over 100 test types, not all types of projects use all test types. So, we’ve covered the common types of software testing that are primarily used in the testing lifecycle. If you liked this article, share it with your friends and hit the like button.

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