In the ever-evolving world of software development, testing is a crucial component that ensures the quality and reliability of applications. With the growing complexity of software systems, it's essential to understand the various types of software testing available. This blog post will delve into the different kinds of software testing, offering insights into their purposes, methodologies, and benefits.
This article does not give an exhaustive list of software testing but the list that a software tester uses daily.
Based on Test Design
Black Box Testing
Black box testing is a software testing method that examines the functionality of an application without peering into its internal structures or workings.
- Equivalence Partitioning: Divides input data into equivalent partitions that can be tested with one representative value from each partition.
- Boundary Value Analysis: Focuses on testing the boundaries between partitions. It includes testing values at the edge of equivalence partitions.
- Decision Table Testing: Uses a table representing combinations of inputs and the corresponding outputs. It ensures that all possible input combinations are tested.
- State Transition Testing: Tests the application’s behavior for different states and transitions between states based on various inputs.
White Box Testing
White box testing, also known as structural testing or code-based testing, involves examining the internal structure and workings of a software application
- Statement Coverage: Ensures that every statement in the code is executed at least once during testing.
- Branch Coverage: Ensures that every branch or decision point in the code is executed at least once.
- Path Coverage: Tests all possible paths through the code, including different combinations of branches and decisions.
- Condition Coverage: Ensures that each condition in a decision statement evaluates to both true and false.
- Code Coverage: Measures the extent to which the codebase is covered by the test cases.
Grey Box Testing
Gray box testing, also known as grey box testing, combines elements of both white box and black box testing. It allows testers to assess a software product or application with partial knowledge of its internal structure.
Based on Testing Objectives
Functional Testing
Functional testing evaluates the functionality of a software application by testing it against specified requirements. The goal is to ensure that the software performs its intended functions correctly according to desired specifications. These are also referred to as Test Levels.
- Performed by developers.
- Tests individual software units (e.g., functions, modules) in isolation.
- Unit testing is a type of white-box testing.
2. Integration Testing:
- Focuses on interactions between components or systems.
- Can be component integration testing (within a system) or system integration testing (between systems).
- Integration testing is functional testing and can be grey box or black box testing.
3. System Testing:
- Validates the entire system against requirements.
- Ensures the output aligns with user expectations.
- System testing is functional testing and can be a grey box or black box testing.
4. Acceptance Testing:
- Conducted by end-users or stakeholders.
- Verifies that the software meets business needs and is ready for deployment.
- Acceptance testing can be functional or non-functional. It is a black box testing since the tester acts as an end user who does not have access to the code.
Non-Functional Testing
Non-functional testing evaluates aspects of a software application beyond its core functionality. Unlike functional testing, which focuses on specific behaviors, non-functional testing assesses performance, reliability, usability, and security criteria. It ensures that the software meets established standards and provides a high-quality experience to end-users. While functional testing answers “Does it work?”, non-functional testing addresses "How well does it work?".
1. Performance Testing: Evaluate the system's responsiveness, stability, and scalability under various conditions.
a. Load Testing: Load testing evaluates a system’s capability to manage a defined workload and user traffic, making it a form of performance testing.
b. Soak Testing: Soak testing, also known as endurance testing, is a type of performance testing used to evaluate the behavior of a software application under sustained use.
c. Capacity Testing: Capacity testing is a type of performance testing that determines the maximum amount of users or transactions a system can handle effectively without degradation in performance.
d. Stress testing: Stress testing is performance testing that evaluates how a system behaves under extreme or peak load conditions, beyond its normal operational capacity, to identify its breaking point and ensure robustness.
e. Scalability testing: Scalability testing is a type of performance testing that assesses a system's ability to handle increased load by scaling up (adding resources to a single node) or scaling out (adding more nodes) while maintaining acceptable performance and stability.
2. Security Testing: Identifies vulnerabilities and ensures the application is secure from potential threats.
3. Usability Testing: Assesses the user-friendliness and intuitiveness of the software.
4. Compatibility Testing: Ensures that the software works across different devices, browsers, and operating systems.
Based on the Testing Approach:
Static Testing
1. Code Reviews: Involves manually inspecting the code for errors or adherence to standards.
2. Static Analysis: Uses tools to analyze code without executing it, focusing on potential errors, code quality, and adherence to coding standards.
Dynamic Testing
Unit Testing, Integration Testing, System Testing, Acceptance Testing, Performance Testing. Security Testing
Other Common Types of Testing
- Manual Testing: Manual testing is a software testing process where testers manually execute test cases without the use of automation tools to identify defects and ensure the software behaves as expected.
- Automation Testing: Automation testing is a software testing process that uses automated tools and scripts to execute test cases, compare actual outcomes with expected results, and report defects, aiming to improve efficiency and coverage compared to manual testing.
- Exploratory Testing: Exploratory testing is an unscripted and simultaneous process of learning, test design, and test execution, where testers dynamically explore the software to identify defects and gain insights into its behavior without predefined test cases.
- Usability Testing: Usability testing is a technique used to evaluate how easily and effectively end users can interact with a software application or product by observing them as they complete specific tasks.
- Regression Testing: Regression testing is a type of software testing that ensures that recent code changes have not adversely affected the existing functionality of the software by re-running previously completed tests.
- A/B Testing: A/B testing is a method of comparing two versions of a webpage or app feature (Version A and Version B) to determine which one performs better based on user interactions and predefined metrics.
- Smoke Testing: Smoke testing is a preliminary level of testing conducted to ensure that the basic functionalities of a software application are working correctly before proceeding to more detailed testing.
- Sanity Testing: Sanity testing is a focused form of testing that verifies whether specific functionalities of a software application are working as intended after changes or bug fixes, ensuring that the issues have been addressed without introducing new problems.
- End-to-end Testing: End-to-end testing is a type of testing that evaluates the complete workflow of an application from start to finish to ensure that all integrated components work together correctly and meet the specified requirements.
- Accessibility Testing: Accessibility testing is the process of evaluating a software application to ensure it is usable by people with disabilities, such as those who rely on screen readers or keyboard navigation.
- Adhoc Testing: Ad hoc testing is an informal, unstructured testing approach where testers explore the application without predefined test cases or plans, relying on their intuition and experience to find defects.
- Alpha Testing: Alpha testing is an internal testing phase where a software application is evaluated by the development team or a select group of end-users to identify and fix defects before it is released to external users for beta testing.
- Beta Testing: Beta testing is the final testing phase where a software application is released to a limited group of external users to gather feedback and identify any remaining issues before the official release. This article does not give an exhaustive list of software testing but the list that a software tester uses daily. Happy testing! 🚀