what is smoke testing in software engineering

Smoke testing is a software testing method that is used to determine if a new software build is ready for the next level of testing). It is performed at the beginning of the development process to ensure that the most critical functions of a software application are working correctly. The goal of smoke testing is to discover simple but severe failures using test cases that cover the most important functionalities of a software. Smoke tests are performed by QA teams using a minimal set of tests on each build that focuses on software functionality. Smoke testing tests the basic functionalities and core features of software in development. It is also known as "Build Verification Testing" or "Confidence Testing". An example of a smoke test could be the testing of a login function of a web application. Performed from the perspective of the user, the page would be launched, and the tester would enter a valid username and password and attempt to sign in. A successful test would result in a successful login. Smoke testing plays an important role in software development as it ensures the correctness of the system in initial stages, saves test effort, and brings the system to a good state. If smoke tests are not performed at the early stages, and critical issues are found towards the later stages of the Software Development Life Cycle, it can incur a heavy cost on the entire team with respect to time, resources as well as money.