Software Testing Types

Software Testing Types Software testing types are important and must know, even when talking about Automated testing. The Best Automated testing is a kind of testing that runs on the needed strategy and method the same way it was done manually. Today, we still see companies that manage two testing systems, one for manual testing and the other for automatic testing. But as I said before, this will change, and is already changing, thanks to smart Testing Management tools and ALM’s. Setting up the scenarios is done the same way, and after it is done, the tester decides to run it manually or automatically. So, what are the testing method available, does any one have a full list ? I searched the web for answer, and then created a list. Still, I guess that this list is not complete, so if I didn’t mention kind of testing strategy or method, please comment on this list, hence I will be able to update the article. (thanks in advance) Following is a summary in alphabetical order of the types of testing that are performed.

Acceptance Test : The test performed by users of a new or changed system in order to approve the system and go live. See user acceptance test.

Active Test : Introducing test data and analyzing the results. Contrast with "passive test" (below).

Ad Hoc Test : Informal testing without a test case.

Age Test (aging) : Evaluating a system's ability to perform in the future. To perform these tests, hardware and/or test data are modified to a future date.

All-pairs testing / pairwise testing : A combinatorial software testing method that, for each pair of input parameters to a system, tests all possible discrete combinations of those parameters.

Alpha Test : The first testing of a product in the lab. Then comes beta testing.

Automated Test : Using software to test software. Automated tests may still require human intervention to monitor stages for analysis or errors.

Beta Test : Testing by end users. Follows alpha testing. See beta test.

Black Box Test : Testing software based on output only without any knowledge of its internal code or logic. Contrast with "white box test" and "gray box test."

Concolic testing : A hybrid software verification technique that interleaves concrete execution with symbolic execution, a classical technique that treats program variables as symbolic variables.

Conformance testing : is testing to determine whether a product or system meets some specified standard that has been developed for efficiency or interoperability.

Computer-Based Testing (CBT) : e-assessment, computerized testing and computer-administered testing, is a method of administering tests in which the responses are electronically recorded, assessed, or both. As the name implies, Computer-Based Assessment makes use of a computer or an equivalent electronic device such as a cell phone or PDA.

Destructive testing : Testing method that attempts to cause the software or a sub-system to fail, in order to test its robustness.

Dirty Test : Same as "negative test."

Environment Test : A test of new software that determines whether all transactions flow properly between input, output and storage devices. See environment test.

Functional Test : Testing functional requirements of software, such as menus and key commands. See functional test.

Fuzz Test : Testing for software bugs by feeding it randomly generated data. See fuzz testing.

Game testing : A software testing process for quality control of video games.

Gray Box Test : Testing software with some knowledge of its internal code or logic. Contrast with "white box test" and "black box test."

Integration Testing : Testing the software with all its components/modules, making sure they operate together and synchronize manner.

Load Testing : Testing process of putting demand on a system or device and measuring its response. Load testing is performed to determine a system’s behavior under both normal and anticipated peak load conditions.

Manual testing : The process of manually testing software for defects.

Monkey Test : A unit test that runs with no specific test in mind.

Mutation testing / Mutation analysis / Program mutation : A method of software testing, which involves modifying programs' source code or byte code in small ways.

Negative Test : Using invalid input to test a program's error handling.

Orthogonal array testing : A systematic, statistical way of testing.

Passive Test : Monitoring the results of a running system without introducing any special test data. Contrast with "active test" (above).

Performance testing : Testing method that is performed, to determine how fast some aspect of a system performs under a particular workload.

Recovery Test : Testing a system's ability to recover from a hardware or software failure.

Regression Test : To test revised software to see if previously working functions were impacted. See regression testing.

Risk-based testing (RBT) : A type of software testing that prioritizes the tests of features and functions based on the risk of their failure - a function of their importance and likelihood or impact of failure.

Security testing : Testing method to verify its confidential process and data and to prevent system intrusion by hackers.

Software testability : The degree to which a software artifact supports testing in a given test context.

Smoke Test : Turn it on and see what happens. See smoke test.

Stability testing : Testing that checks to see if the software can continuously function well in or above an acceptable period. This activity of non-functional software testing is often referred to as load (or endurance) testing.

Stress testing : Testing form that is used to determine the stability of a given system or entity. It involves testing beyond normal operational capacity, often to a breaking point, in order to observe the results.

System Test : Overall testing in the lab and in the user environment. See alpha test and beta test.

System integration testing : A Testing method that verifies a system is integrated to any external or third-party systems defined in the system requirements.

Test Case : A set of test data, test programs and expected results. See test case.

Test Scenario : A set of test cases. See test scenario.

Test Suite : A collection of test cases and/or test scenarios. See test suite.

Unit Test : A test of one component of the system. Contrast with "system test."

User Acceptance Test (UAT) : See "acceptance test" above.

Usability Testing : Black box testing type that verify the software usability and intuitive use and operating

Web testing : The name given to software testing that focuses on web applications.

White Box Test : Testing software with complete knowledge of its internal code and logic. Contrast with "black box test" and "gray box test."

X-Machine (Stream) Testing : Testing methodology of a complete functional testing approach to software testing that exploits the scalability of the Stream X-Machine model of computation.