Software Testing & Quality Analysis: The essential elements of any foolproof system development

Advantages incurred

A wide array of industries uses customized software for carrying out various critical and specialized jobs. Disaster can strike if the software would not yield the desired outcome once put into active use. Software testing precludes any flunking on the part of the intrinsic code. Software that may be used for payment gateway can play havoc with the monetary transactions if it goes haywire. The client runs the risk of losing his organization’s reputation irrevocably. Such is the criticality of comprehensive software testing.

The quality analysis phase also ensures that precious time of user is saved as unnecessary fuss regarding the seamless functionality of the program does not occur. Once the bug is unearthed, coding can progress in the right direction which means drastic slashing of costs associated with development and operational procedures.

A number of methods are used to analyze the software in terms of quality consciousness. The prominent among them are:

Unit testing

Unit testing, refers to tests that determines functions, classes, procedures, interfaces are fit for use or not, generally at the function level. In this method continuous testing and revision is involved to make sure about the quality code at every step. Such, test-driven development require developers that can write first unit tests and then they write code and refactor the application until the test passes.

Installation testing

An installation test assures the compatibility of installed product with hardware. It is performed when outer software is involved to embed with in-house hardware and check all the inherent features functions as per the quality standards.

Compatibility testing

Compatibility testing is performed to check harmonious adaptation of software to new environment, OS and other pre-installed software. Each aspects is considered in terms of compatibility right from the software running on different hardware to operating systems to browsers to network environments.

Smoke and sanity testing

Smoke testing allows minimal attempts to operate the software therefore it is used as build verification test. Sanity testing verifies whether it is reasonable to proceed with further testing or not.

Regression testing

Regression testing is carried out to find flaws after execution of major code alteration. It is used to double check that old code is working fine and upto the mark after the implementation of new code.

Integration testing

In integration testing, each module of the software is integrated one by one as per the logic and tests are performed considering in a group. Generally, any project will have multiple software modules which is developed by various coders. Therefore, it also takes care about the data communication internally amongst these modules.

Acceptance testing

Acceptance testing is performed in client’s lab environment on their own hardware. This type of testing is carried out to give assurance to client that the system is bug free and developed as per the initial agreement. Acceptance testing comes into picture at the final phase of testing before its launch in the market.

Alpha testing and Beta testing

Alpha testing is used to simulate the process by an independent test team at the developer’s’ site. It is one type of acceptance testing and the techniques involved is White box and Black box. Beta testing is followed by alpha testing and is considered to be a form of external user acceptance testing. It is released to a limited audience other than programming team.

Functional V/S non functional

Functional testing involves the activities that verify a specific action or function of the code. Non-functional testing refers to certain phase of the software that dissociates with specific function or user action.

Other important types of testing

Load testing is the process of subjecting an application, server, network, computer or peripheral to a work level approaching the limits of its specifications. Usability testing is the process to confirm if the user interface of an application is easy to understand and make use of it. Accessibility testing may include compliance with standards such as: W3C, PCI etc. Security testing is important for some software that contains confidential data to prevent system intrusion by hackers. In internationalized and localized the ability of software can be automatically tested without actual translation

The test progresses through various stages encompassing scoping, planning, analysis, verification, construction, execution, defect/ bug tracking, management, report generation, and final implementation with the bug aspect eliminated and substituted with robust, flawless coding.

Once the software is diagnosed for deficiencies, the factors that attributed to failures after identification are duly modified.