All About Software Testing

WHAT IS SOFTWARE TESTING?

Software Testing is an art to evaluate the functionality of a software application with an intent to find whether the developed software met the specified requirements or not and to identify the defects to ensure that the product is defect free in order to produce the quality product.

A primary purpose of testing is to detect software failures so that defects may be discovered and corrected. Testing cannot establish that a product functions properly under all conditions, but only that it does not function properly under specific conditions.

The scope of software testing often includes the examination of code as well as the execution of that code in various environments and conditions as well as examining the aspects of code: does it do what it is supposed to do and do what it needs to do. In the current culture of software development, a testing organization may be separate from the development team. There are various roles for testing team members. Information derived from software testing may be used to correct the process by which software is developed.

WHY DO WE NEED SOFTWARE TESTING

As per the current trend, due to constant change and development in digitization, our lives are improving in all areas. The way we work is also changed. We access our bank online, we do shopping online, we order food online and many more. We rely on software’s and systems. What if these systems turnout to be defective. We all know that one small bug shows huge impact on business in terms of financial loss and goodwill. To deliver a quality product, we need to have Software Testing in the Software Development Process.

Reasons why software testing becomes very significant and integral part in the field of information technology are as follows.

1.   Cost effectiveness

2.   Customer Satisfaction

3.   Security

4.   Product Quality

1. Cost effectiveness

Design defects can never be completely ruled out for any complex system. It is not because developers are careless but because the complexity of a system is intractable. If the design issues go undetected, then it will become more difficult to trace back defects and rectify it. It will become more expensive to fix it. Sometimes, while fixing one bug we may introduce another one in some other module unknowingly. If the bugs can be identified in early stages of development then it costs much less to fix them. That is why it is important to find defects in the early stages of the software development life cycle.

2. To Met the Customer Satisfaction

In any business, the ultimate goal is to give the best customer satisfaction. Yes, customer satisfaction is very important. Software testing improves the user experience of an application and gives satisfaction to the customers. Happy customers means more revenue for a business. One of the reasons why software testing is necessary is to provide the best user experience.

3. For Security

This is probably the most sensitive and vulnerable part of software testing. Testing (penetration testing & security testing) helps in product security. Hackers gain unauthorized access to data. These hackers steal user information and use it for their benefit. If your product is not secured, users won’t prefer your product. Users always look for trusted products. Testing helps in removing vulnerabilities in the product.

4. Product Quality

Software Testing is an art which helps in strengthening the market reputation of a company by delivering the quality product to the client as mentioned in the requirement specification documents.

Due to these reasons software testing becomes very significant and integral part of Software Development process.

FYI: One of the Infamous Software Error Case happens is the Year 2000 (Y2K) Bug where the system failed to perform the correct calculations because back then in the 1960's, developers used 2-digit code for the year, leaving the first 2 digits.