Software testing is an essential component of the software development process. It starts during the process development lifecycle after the first few lines of code have been written. In some cases, the testing starts during the planning stage itself. This usually happens for large solutions when a test scenario is designed and tested to check if the larger solution will work as it is supposed to do, or a new plan has to be made.
Software testing has come of age and many of the earlier manual tests are now done by automated tests that check if the solution is working as planned. In this article, we look at a few types of software testing and check what they are meant to do.
•Structural or Whitebox Testing: This looks at the internal structure of the solution and sees if the coding, the links within the code, etc. are exactly as they should be. It starts at the unit level and moves up. Some forms of whitebox testing are API testing and Static testing
•Functional or Blackbox Testing: Here the check is on the result rather than the internal workings of the solution. The software testing company checks the input and the output without focusing on how the input gave a specific output. Some of the methods used for blackbox testing are model-based testing, boundary value analysis, exploratory testing, and decision table testing.
•Greybox Testing: In these tests, the software development services providers look at the result and have some knowledge of the internal working of the solution. The software firm manipulates the internal functions to a limited extent to check if they change the results.
•Installation Testing: Here the software development services company checks if the solution installs as planned on the hardware and whether it is likely to install properly or cause problems.
•Performance Testing: Also known sometimes as load or stress testing, here the software checked to see how it will operate under different loads. It checks how much the solution can take, lag times when subjected to different levels of stress. This test helps determine how the solution will function above its standard operating levels.
•Compatibility Testing: Here the focus is to check if the software is compatible with different applications, OS, earlier versions of other existing software. In case the solution is not compatible with software running in the environment where it will be deployed, the developer will have to debug the problems.
•Destructive Testing: These are undertaken to make the solution or a part of it fail to work as it was designed to do. One way it works is by putting in wrong input data and to see if the software fails.
•Smoke Testing: Also, known as build verification tests, this helps determine if there are some inherent or basic problems that will cause a problem in the future.
•Alpha and Beta Testing: Alpha tests determine how the solution runs at the client site after it is deployed. It is the phase when the solution is approved for initial use and feedback. Beta testing comes after alpha tests and is usually rolled out to end-users for their feedback and validation.
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