Tag Archives: level

Dec 21 2011

Test Classification


There are numerous types of testing , howerver in the parlance of Software Testing following  five classes have been defined and practiced by the software testing community.

  • Methodology
  • Conventions
  • Level
  • Technique
  • Intent

A brief description of the same is as under:

A)   Methodologies wise there are two ways of  Software Testing

  1. Manual Testing
  2. Automated Testing

Manual Testing is a process in which all the phase of software testing life Cycle like Test Planning, Test Development. Test Execution, Result Analysis, Bug Tracking and Reporting are accomplished till successful completion by manual means i.e with human efforts.

There are few drawbacks of Manual Testing such as

  • More people are required
  • It is more time consuming
  • It renders less accuracy
  • It is strenuous
  • Simultaneous actions are difficult
  • Repetitive tasks are difficult to perform

Automation Testing is a process in which majority of drawbacks of manual testing gets addressed properly and it provided speed and accuracy to the existing testing phase.

It must be remembered that automation testing is not a replacement for manual testing. It is in fact a continuation of manual testing aimed to provide speed and accuracy to the testing effort.

Automation testing primarily uses an automation tool, which is assistance to the test engineers. An automation tool works on the basis of instructions and information.

  • Functional tool  (like Hp quickest, IBM RFT)
  • Management tool  (like HP quality center)
  • Peformance tool ( like Load Runner & WinRunner)

The are few drawbacks of Automation Testing : Such as

  • More expensive
  • We can not automate all the areas
  • Manual testing can not be fully eliminated

B) Conventionally there are following two types of testing.

 SOAP testing Tools

Unconventional testing : It is a sort of testing in which quality assurance engineer checks each out come deocument right from the initial phase of the SDLC.

Conventional testing : It is a sort of testig in which the testing engineer tests the application in the testing phase of SDLC.

C) Levels of testing:

  • Unit Level Testing : refer to the testing carried out on small software units.  This is a type of white box testing genenally proformed by the code developers.
  • Module level testing refers tot he testing carried out on a module.  This is a type  of  black box testing generally performed by the test engineers.
  • Integration level testing : during the process of developement, lot many modules are developed along with their respective interfaces, which are used for integrating these modules.     While integration the developers checks and ensure the perfect working of all such interfaces. This falls under the category of  white box testing.
  • System level testing: performed on the application after its development in its actual environment is termed as system level testing. This fall under the category of black box testing. 

                1.    System  integration Testing       2. Load Testing     3. Perfomance testing      4. Stress Testing

  •  User acceptance level testing :  it is nothing but a system level testing with the only difference that it is carried out in the presence of the user.  It falls under the category of black box testing generally conducted by the Testing Engineer.

D) Technique, there are following three type of testing.

  • Black box Testing: Involves testing of functional part of the application.  This is generally conducted by the testing  analyst.  For conducting black box testing, tester need not have any formal structural knowledge of the code.
  • White box Testing: known as glass box testing or sometimes clear box testing.  This involves testing on the structural part of the application.  for performing white box testing, in-depth knowledge of the code is essential, hence generally the code developers do this type of testing.
  • Gray box Testing: this involves testing of functional part as well as the structural part of the application.  for performing gray box testing, knowledge of the code is required, hence experienced testers having good knowledge of code development are best suited for performing gray box testing,

E)  Intent Wise there are the following four types of testing

  • Acceptance Testing
  • Performance Testing
  • Loading Testing
  • Regression Testing