What is Software Testing?

Software testing is an important process in the Software Development

Lifecycle(SDLC). It involves verifying and validating that a Software
Application is free of bugs, meets the technical requirements set by
its Design and Development, and satisfies user requirements efficiently and
effectively.
Here we are learning Software Testing with the related topics, which are as
follows.
Table of Content
• What is Software Testing?
• Need for Software Testing
• Types of Software Testing
• Different Levels of Software Testing
• Why is Importance of Software Testing?
• Best Practices for Software Testing
• Benefits of Software Testing
It is important to learn the basics, whether it is software testing or anything else,
you always need to start from the basics and make your foundation strong, and
then proceed to the advanced level. If you want to learn software testing in a
structured approach, then you can enroll in our Manual to Automation Testing
Course.
What is Software Testing?
Software Testing is a process of verifying and validating whether the Software
Product or Application is working as expected or not. The complete testing
includes identifying errors and bugs that cause future problems for the performance
of an application.
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Software Testing Can be Divided into Two Steps:
Software testing mainly divides into the two parts, which is used in the Software
Development Process:
1. Verification: This step involves checking if the software is doing what is
supposed to do. Its like asking, “Are we building the product the right
way?“
2. Validation: This step verifies that the software actually meets the customer’s
needs and requirements. Its like asking, “Are we building the right
product?“
Need for Software Testing
Software bugs can cause potential monetary and human loss. There are many
examples in history that clearly depicts that without the testing phase in software
development lot of damage was incurred. Below are some examples:
• 1985: Canada’s Therac-25 radiation therapy malfunctioned due to a software
bug and resulted in lethal radiation doses to patients leaving 3 injured and 3
people dead.
• 1994: China Airlines Airbus A300 crashed due to a software bug killing 264
people.
• 1996: A software bug caused U.S. bank accounts of 823 customers to be
credited with 920 million US dollars.
• 1999: A software bug caused the failure of a $1.2 billion military satellite
launch.
• 2015: A software bug in fighter plane F-35 resulted in making it unable to
detect targets correctly.
• 2015: Bloomberg terminal in London crashed due to a software bug
affecting 300,000 traders on the financial market and forcing the government
to postpone the 3bn pound debt sale.
• Starbucks was forced to close more than 60% of its outlet in the U.S. and
Canada due to a software failure in its POS system.
• Nissan cars were forced to recall 1 million cars from the market due to a
software failure in the car’s airbag sensory detectors.
Types of Software Testing
Here are the Types of Software Testing mainly categorized into the two domain,
which are below.

Software Testing Types

1. Manual Testing
Manual Testing is a technique to test the software that is carried out using the
functions and features of an application. Which means manual testing will check
the defect manually with trying one by one function is working as expected.
2. Automation Testing
Automation Testing It is a technique where the Tester writes scripts independently
and uses suitable Software or Automation Tools to test the software. It is an
Automation Process of a Manual Process. It allows for executing repetitive tasks
without the use of a Manual Tester.
Types of Manual Testing
Manual testing will be divided into further types which is following:
1. White 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.
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.
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. 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.
Here is the Black Box and White and Grey Box Testing, Let’s see the differences
between them.

S. White Box
Black Box Testing Gray Box Testing
No. Testing

This testing has a This testing has

This testing has Low
1. medium level of high-level
granularity.
granularity. granularity.

It is done by end-users and It is done by end-users It is generally

2. also by the tester and (called user acceptance done by testers
developers. testing) and also by and developers.
S. White Box
Black Box Testing Gray Box Testing
No. Testing

testers and developers.

Here, the Internal

Here, Internals are not Here, Internals relevant code of the
3.
required to be known. to the testing are known. application and
database is known.

It is likely to be less
Most exhaustive
4. exhaustive than the other It is kind of in-between.
among all three.
two.

It is based on It provides better

It can exercise
requirements, and test variety/depth in test
code with a
5. cases on the functional cases on account of
relevant variety of
specifications, as the high-level knowledge of
data.
internals are not known. the internals.

Types of Black Box Testing

Black Box Testing will be divided into further types which is following:
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.
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.
Types of Functional Testing
Functional Testing will be divided into further types which is following:
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.
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.
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.
Types of Non-functional Testing
Here are the Types of Non-Functional 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.
2. Usability Testing
Usability Testing in software testing is a type of testing, that is done from an end
user’s perspective to determine if the system is easily usable. Usability testing is
generally the practice of testing how easy a design is to use on a group of
representative users.
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.
You can learn more Software Testing Types which is included in the Software
testing in detail.
Different Levels of Software Testing
In Software testing there are Different Levels of Testing can be majorly classified
into 4 levels:
1. Unit Testing: In this type of testing, errors are detected individually from
every component or unit by individually testing the components or units of
software to ensure that they are fit for use by the developers. It is the
smallest testable part of the software.
2. Integration Testing: In this testing, two or more modules which are unit
tested are integrated to test i.e., technique interacting components, and are
then verified if these integrated modules work as per the expectation or not,
and interface errors are also detected.
3. System Testing: In system testing, complete and integrated Software are
tested i.e., all the system elements forming the system are tested as a whole
to meet the requirements of the system.
4. Acceptance Testing: This is a kind of testing conducted to ensure that the
requirements of the users are fulfilled before its delivery and that the
software works correctly in the user’s working environment.
Why is Importance of Software Testing?
Software testing is important for the several reasons and it mainly classified in the
following reason which are affecting the most.
• Defects can be Identified Early: Software testing is important because if
there are any bugs they can be identified early and can be fixed before the
delivery of the software.
• Improves Quality of Software: Software Testing uncovers the defects in
the software, and fixing them improves the quality of the software.
 • Increased Customer Satisfaction: Software testing ensures reliability,
security, and high performance which results in saving time, costs, and
customer satisfaction.
• Helps with Scalability: Software testing type non-functional testing helps
to identify the scalability issues and the point where an application might
stop working.
• Saves Time and Money: After the application is launched it will be very
difficult to trace and resolve the issues, as performing this activity will incur
more costs and time. Thus, it is better to conduct software testing at regular
intervals during software development.
Best Practices for Software Testing
Here are the best practices for software testing that help to verify the testing
process:
• Continuous Testing: Project teams test each build as it becomes available
thus it enables software to be validated in real environments earlier in the
development cycle, reducing risks and improving the functionality and
design.
• Involve Users: It is very important for the developers to involve users in the
process and open-ended questions about the functionality required in the
application. This will help to develop and test the software from the
customer’s perspective.
• Divide Tests into Smaller Parts: Dividing tests into smaller fractions save
time and other resources in environments where frequent testing needs to be
conducted. This also helps teams to make better analyses of the tests and the
test results.
• Metrics and Reporting: Reporting enables the team members to share
goals and test results. Advanced tools integrate the project metrics and
present an integrated report in the dashboard that can be easily reviewed by
the team members to see the overall health of the project.
• Don’t Skip Regression Testing: Regression testing is one of the most
important steps as it encourages the validation of the application. Thus, it
should not be skipped.
 • Programmers Should Avoid Writing Tests: Test cases are usually written
before the start of the coding phase so it is considered a best practice for
programmers to avoid writing test cases as they can be biased towards their
code and the application.
• Service Virtualization: Service virtualization simulates the systems and
services that are not yet developed or are missing. Thus, enabling teams to
reduce dependency and start the testing process sooner. They can modify,
and reuse the configuration to test different scenarios without having to alter
the original environment.
Benefits of Software Testing
Here are some Benefits which give Software Testing:
• Product Quality: Testing ensures the delivery of a high-quality product as
the errors are discovered and fixed early in the development cycle.
• Customer Satisfaction: Software testing aims to detect the errors or
vulnerabilities in the software early in the development phase so that the
detected bugs can be fixed before the delivery of the product. Usability
testing is a type of software testing that checks the application for how easily
usable it is for the users to use the application.
• Cost-Effective: Testing any project on time helps to save money and time
for the long term. If the bugs are caught in the early phases of software
testing, it costs less to fix those errors.
• Security: Security testing is a type of software testing that is focused on
testing the application for security vulnerabilities from internal or external
sources.