Software testing is the process of evaluating and verifying that a software product or application does what it is supposed to do. It involves examining the artifacts and behavior of the software under test by validation and verification. The primary purpose of testing is to detect software failures so that defects may be discovered and corrected. However, testing cannot identify all the failures within the software, but only that it does not function properly under specific conditions. The scope of software testing may include the examination of code as well as the execution of that code in various scenarios.
Software testing can determine the correctness of software under the assumption of some specific hypotheses, but it cannot establish that a product functions properly under all conditions. Instead, it furnishes a criticism or comparison that compares the state and behavior of the product against test oracles, which are principles or mechanisms by which someone might recognize a problem.
Software testing can be divided into two steps: verification and validation. Verification refers to the set of tasks that ensure that the software correctly implements a specific function, while validation refers to a different set of tasks that ensure that the software that has been built is traceable to customer requirements.
The following are the main types of software testing methodologies:
- Unit testing
- Integration testing
- System testing
- Acceptance testing
- Regression testing
- Beta/Acceptance testing
- Functional testing
- Non-functional testing
- Performance testing
- Security testing
- Usability testing
Software testing is a crucial part of the software development life cycle, and it is done to ensure that the software works as expected and meets the technical and user requirements effectively and efficiently by handling all the exceptional and boundary cases.
