Software testing is termed to be an important part of the overall development process. It provides an in-depth evaluation of the efficiency of any software product. From websites to mobile apps, software testing is termed compulsory for every project. The process of software testing is certainly not as straightforward as app programming. It is quite lengthy and hard, requiring detailed knowledge about every method and function. However, by breaking it down into multiple steps, any beginner can also learn it effectively.

Today, software testing practices have also evolved greatly. Many QA professionals are now using automated tools to test various methods and functions of an application. These software testing tools not only save their time, but also reduces their effort to perform different tasks manually. Though it should also be remembered that core knowledge is still required by the developers to use these tools. Without having that, these tools would also become useless for them.

In this article, we will take a brief look into the testing process of any software application. We will describe a step by step process that helps to evaluate errors and bugs inside an application. But before moving straight into that, let’s first understand the importance of software testing below.  

Importance of Software Testing

Software testing is termed crucial to evaluate the efficiency of any application. It ensures to resolve all the underlying errors, so that applications can run smoothly without producing any glitches. From websites to app development, the significance of the software testing process is equal for every project. That is why it is always recommended to the developers to learn software testing properly, so that they can build any type of application without having many errors.

The reputation of any software company also depends on the efficiency of its products. They cannot risk to build any project having problems in the execution. That is where continuous and robust software testing becomes extremely important for them. It provides them a failsafe mechanism to let the applications work properly according to the requirements. This helps to build the confidence of people on their products which eventually helps in increasing their sales regularly.

5 Key Steps of Software Testing Every Developer Must Know About

It is quite important to understand the cores of software testing properly. It cannot be implemented without having a sound knowledge of basic testing principles. If you are also looking to learn software testing correctly, take a look at the key points given below.

Requirement Analysis

The first thing that should be considered before starting the testing process is the gathering of information. It is a critical phase in which you collect important information about various methods and functions programmed inside the application. It lets you know what type of testing processes will be required, and how you will need to execute them as well.

The requirement analysis also helps you to plan the entire testing process effectively. It provides good information about the estimated time, as well as the tools required for software testing. This offers a clear way forward to execute the tests and get the required performance results effectively.  grey box testing

Test Planning

The next phase is also pretty important because it further magnifies the analysis extracted from the earlier phase. Generally, developers are advised to write down all the points in this phase to build a complete documented plan. It is important because testing processes cannot be executed randomly without understanding the sequential results. A good robust plan is always needed to align each test case right from the start of the process.

Building a plan in this phase precisely determines what type of efforts and resources will be needed in the later stages. This provides good information to everyone about how the testing will commence and what elements will be involved in it.

Test Case Design

Now that the planning phase has documented all the things perfectly, it is now time to start writing the test cases as defined. This will require a lot of time because test cases are always written with extreme caution. Developers and QA testers both work simultaneously in this phase to write cases with a focused approach. It helps to build cases with a unified consensus, so that every error and fault can be looked upon collectively.

When writing test cases, the QA professionals are required to formulate processes that can validate the performance benchmark of respective applications. It is the basic requirement of this phase that is needed to be followed by all the QA testers. A good test case design should always be done by experienced professionals, so that every method and call could be listed properly inside the process.

Test Execution

After creating the required test cases, you need to start the execution phase. This part will be primarily responsible to carry out all the operations decided earlier in the process. You will need to use various tools and strategies to implement different test cases in this phase. It would take a lot of time, as multiple test cases would be executed one by one during this stage.

Based on the requirements, this phase can be divided into two parts including functional and non-functional testing. It provides QA testers a better view about the efficiency of different functional and non-functional components. They can run separate scripts the evaluate the performance of both components, as this will make the overall testing much easier for them.

Test Cycle Closure

Once the test is completed, check for the results obtained at the end of the execution. This will offer plenty of insights about the software application. If these details are good and the software is working fine according to the requirements, conclude the final phase immediately. This will mark the completion of the whole software testing lifecycle, allowing you to finalize the project effectively. grey box testing

Final Words

That takes us to the end of this blog in which we have discussed about the important steps required in software testing. As a QA professional, you must need to know about these points, as they allow you to carry out the whole testing operation properly. These few principles are termed equivalent for all types of software testing, ranging from desktop apps to mobile applications and more.