Picture this scenario: your company has been working continuously on a massive software project for years, and the first version’s release is rapidly approaching. The big day finally arrives, but nothing has gone to plan. Even though the app has fantastic features and looks great, there are numerous operational issues and bugs, and the first few unforgiving user reviews come flying in.
Launching a product without adequate testing is unthinkable, as it risks undermining the quality and reliability that customers expect. In some cases, poor testing can even destroy brands.
To err is human, but in software, mistakes can be exceptionally costly. To unravel the strategies that lie behind successful software testing, we asked our developer experts to compile the ultimate guide. Read on to learn all about it!
Table of Contents
Software Testing: Definition
Software testing includes the methods included in assessing the functionality of your software product. The testing process examines whether the final version is free of bugs and matches its expected requirements.
Developers use software testing to measure functionality, specification, and performance.
The process can be divided into two testing steps:
- Verification: This covers a set of tasks that aim to ensure that the product has been developed correctly.
- Validation: In the second part of the software testing life cycle, experts examine whether the product meets customer requirements.
Why Is Software Testing Important?
Why is software testing crucial to the success of your product and your company’s reputation? Below are just some of the things that highlight its importance:
- Bugs and defects can be detected early: Bugs and other errors can be identified before launch day.
- Improved customer satisfaction: Adequate testing can also help avoid security and performance defects before launch, resulting in better customer satisfaction, and will require less time and money than remedying the issue post-launch.
- Better scalability: Non-functional testing can help better understand possible scalability issues and enable developers to see where the application might crash or stop working.
- Cost- and time-effectiveness: Fixing post-launch errors and bugs can be difficult to mend and usually requires a considerable amount of time and money. As such, it’s better to perform regular testing during development.
- Better product quality: Robust testing will ensure the high quality of the end product.
Bugs and software defects may also lead to human and monetary loss. We have witnessed several examples of inadequate testing that has led to damage. For instance, Bloomberg Terminal’s 2015 crash caused by a software bug affected 300,000 traders and forced the UK Government to postpone a £3 billion debt sale.
Another example is Nissan, which had to recall one million cars because of a software bug that affected the sensory detectors in its cars, preventing airbags from opening during crashes.
Software Testing Types
Typically, software testing can be classified into three major types.
Functional Testing
Functional software testing validates the system of the software by comparing it to the predefined functional requirements to check whether the app works as it should. There are several types of functional testing including system testing, smoke testing, integration, unit testing, and more.
Non-Functional Testing
This software testing type checks the system for non-functional requirements like portability, system stress, performance, and scalability.
Maintenance Testing
This is the process of updating, changing, or modifying the application or software to keep up with trends and customer needs. Maintenance testing often requires regression testing which verifies that the code changes didn’t have an adverse effect on software components that previously worked fine.
Testing can also be divided into two more categories, based on the way the tests are carried out:
Manual Testing
As the name implies, this means testing software manually, or without the use of automation scripts or tools. During manual testing, the tester is in the role of the end user, looking for unexpected software behavior or bugs. Manual testing will usually involve different testing stages, such as unit, integration, system, and user acceptance testing.
Automation Testing
Test automation is a process where testers use other software and test scripts to test the product. This is used to re-run the test cases and scenarios after manual testing, but significantly faster and repeatedly.
In addition to making sure that everything checks out, automation testing also tests stress points, performance, and software load. This process is less time-consuming and more cost-effective than manual testing.
Software Testing Techniques
Let's take a look at the key techniques used for software testing:
- Black box testing: For this technique, the tester has no access to the software’s source code and the tests are conducted via the interface. These tests focus on outputs and inputs to verify that the software works correctly and meets its predefined specifications.
- White box testing: In this case, testers are aware of the product’s internal workings through access to the source code. During these testing sessions, developers also examine whether all internal functions are carried out according to the predetermined specifications.
- Grey box testing: During grey box testing, developers are only partially aware of the app’s internal workings, which allows them to develop more effective test cases than black box testers, while still having a specific level of independence from the internal implementation details.
The following are a few more common testing protocols that are usually performed in the development process.
- Security testing: This test type looks for potential vulnerabilities and security risks that may open a door to cyber-attacks. This is especially important in the case of apps or software that handle sensitive data, such as financial information.
- Smoke testing: Also called sanity testing, this is a preliminary test that’s performed to see whether an app’s most critical functions and features work properly. The purpose of smoke testing is to identify major defects early in the testing process.
- Ad hoc testing: This is an informal testing strategy, where developers conduct spontaneous tests without predefined documentation or plans. They use their intuition and knowledge to look for issues or defects.
- Exploratory testing: This involves simultaneous learning, test design, and test execution. Testers spend more time exploring the system, trying to uncover risks, defects, and improvement areas that may not be apparent via test scripts or test cases.
Software Testing Levels
Software testing is usually organized into different levels, with each stage focusing on different aspects of the application’s development cycle. The different levels help to ensure that the testing is thorough and covers all possible scenarios during every development stage.
The most prominent software testing levels include:
- Unit testing: During this level, testers only examine the individual units of a system or software. The purpose of unit testing is to ensure that each component of the software is working as it’s supposed to.
- Integration testing: During this process, all individual units are combined and tested together. These tests expose any interaction defects or issues between connected units.
- System testing: This process involves the testing of complete or integrated software.
- Acceptance testing: Acceptance testing checks if the system is compliant with the predefined business or user requirements and ensures that it’s ready for launch.
- Regression testing: As mentioned earlier, this software testing type ensures that code modifications or changes don’t have adverse effects on the software’s existing functionality post-launch.
Software Testing Best Practices
Best practices in software testing help streamline the often-arduous testing process and ensure that every conducted test remains effective, resulting in optimally functioning, scalable software. Experts recommend several methods to ensure effectiveness:
Test Continuously
Continuous testing allows testers to validate the product in real environments at early development stages, reducing the risks of design and functionality issues and ensuring that every code change is validated and tested.
User Involvement
Involving end users in the development process is also crucial as they can discuss open-ended questions about the required application functionality. It can help improve the user experience, enabling developers to create an app that suits customer preferences.
Test in Smaller Fractions
If you divide your tests into smaller parts, testers will have the opportunity to review every component more thoroughly, improving the analysis results. Smaller fractions also allow for a speedier process if you test frequently.
Ensure Reporting and Metrics Tracking
Reporting allows developers and testers to share their results and goals. Integrated development tools can help you track metrics and generate reports, offering a view of the general health and overall status of the project.
Perform Regression Testing
Regression testing ensures that your live, updated product will run just as well as it did on the day of launch, but with the addition of new features and functionality. Regression testing encourages application validation and shouldn’t be overlooked
Don’t Let Programmers Write Tests
It’s better to use pre-written test cases that are already available before the coding phase. Programmers should avoid writing these cases during testing, as they can be biased towards their application and code.
Embrace Service Virtualization
Service virtualization can simulate missing or not yet developed systems, enabling teams to start the testing process much sooner and reduce dependencies. Virtualization allows users to reuse the configuration or modify it to test several scenarios without having to change the initial test environment.
Software Testing: Takeaways
Development is a complex process where multiple unexpected issues may emerge, even in the case of the most experienced teams. That’s why top experts understand the critical importance of regular software testing and continually devise the latest testing protocols to ensure their software meets expectations and functions flawlessly.
If you’re also thinking about developing an application for your brand, don’t hesitate to reach out to our expert partners to gain more insight into development and the testing it necessitates.
Software Testing FAQs
Are software flaws just technical issues?
While they may seem technical, bugs and flaws can lead to more trouble than just simple UX conveniences. Improper testing can lead to massive system flaws, which could lead to monetary losses and may have an impact on brand reputation. In more severe cases, it may lead to human casualties. From exploited system vulnerabilities to flawed vehicle sensory software, the effects resulting from poor testing can be catastrophic.
Does software testing make the development cycle longer?
Not necessarily. If you’ve worked with an experienced team which has an established testing workflow in place, the experts will have calculated every testing level into the entire cycle, ensuring minimal disruptions.
How can you streamline the development and testing process?
Establishing clear communication between testing and development teams can help align expectations and priorities. Teams are also highly encouraged to automate testing to reduce manual work and boost efficiency. Additionally, ensuring continuous testing can promote the early detection of any issues. Both teams should have the necessary skills and training to use the latest testing techniques and tools.
