Software Testing: The Basic Testing ProcessEvery day computer and software companies are developing new kinds of software. They may be educational, games, office programs or some other miscellaneous software. There is a lot that goes into the development of software programs, but the most important phase of the development is testing it. There are different software testing basics that must be completed before the software can be marketed. If there are problems within the software, it needs to be determined now rather than after it's sold or labeled as complete. The software testing basics involve either functional testing or performance testing, both of which are equally important to the overall quality of the software. Functional software is often done during the latter part of the development of the software, although it should be done as soon after the beginning of the development as possible. If there is a problem, it will be easier to detect if the testing is done early in the development, and in turn, easier to correct. Functional testing determines how the software works on the system during downloads and after. It also helps to determine how the system will execute all the commands required. Software may appear to function well on a specific system, but if the user needs to transfer data to another system, the software may not function during or after the transfer. The software testing basics will correct this one very important issue. Most computer applications frequently are being upgraded, so it's important that all the software on the system can be upgraded as well. Performance testing is type of software testing that takes place towards the end of the development and involves the actual performance of the software. The type of performance they are looking for is how quickly the program takes to load, how long each transaction within the program takes and how much work the program can do at one time. They also give the software stress tests to determine how it will perform if the system suddenly has low resources, little memory, etc in addition to testing to see how much data it can take without it failing. They need to discover its exact point of failure rate, so they know what corrections it needs to be functioning and performing perfectly. Often a piece of software may appear to perform as it should during a certain phase of the testing, but when an addition is added to the software, it fails to function correctly. This is why it is so important for the software testing basics to be done throughout the entire development of the software, so a problem can be detected immediately, thus saving time and research efforts. There are many software testing tools to assist in the efficiency of the software testing, and you will hear about some of them a little later. The entire testing process is a lot of detailed work, but they need to have the software testing basics for it to work. |