Automated Software Testing Speeds The Software Testing ProcessAny time new software is developed, part of the development process is testing. It is safe to say that the testing is a large part of the entire development. Anytime a new type of software is developed, it needs to be tested for bugs and problems. The testing is either done manually or by automated software testing. In many cases, automated software testing is still new even though it has been used for a few years now. Software testing goes through different phases from the beginning of the building (or developing) of the software right to the time it is marketed. While automated software testing may seem more expensive than manual testing, it is quicker and more time saving than manual testing, which, overall, makes it more cost effective. Software testing is a complete process of evaluating the software to determine how it functions and performs. The different things that the software is tested for its overall capability; how efficient it is; how portable it is, how easy it is to maintain, and how easy it is to use or how user friendly it is. Many times, the software is tested for one or more of these qualities and the results are satisfactory. Then an additional function is added to the software and it is retested, only to fail the test or indicate a problem in one of the areas. When manual testing is used, it uses a lot of workers and time to keep retesting these same areas repeatedly. When automated software testing is used, it takes much less time to retest the area that was tested, especially with the use of software testing software. It takes a matter of minutes to redo the settings on the testing tool and test it. They results and any possible solutions will come much quicker with automatic testing. In addition, many automated software testing tools will allow the user to record different actions of the software and then play them back to see the problems much quicker. Some software technicians prefer manual testing in certain circumstances because they feel the results are more reliable. The disadvantage of this is that more time is used, adding up to more money. When software is developed, it consists of many codes. With automated software testing, there are tools that can break down the testing to check each individual code, enabling the technician or engineer to pinpoint exactly where the problem is. With the use of an automated software testing too, they are able to do partial testing, something which is much more difficult with manual testing. Another advantage of automated software testing is that they have many testing tools that they can use to break down the tests to work on a specific area of the software. Although automated is more expensive then manual, in tests on both of these, automated tests look up a lot less time. It is important to realize, however, that automated testing is to be used in addition to manual testing, not to replace it. |