Automated testing is a process of running software under controlled conditions to detect defects and also to provide assurance that the software is working as intended. It is a good alternative to manual testing because it saves time and money, and provides accurate results.
This helps avoid human errors such as making assumptions about the way things work or using different tools for different parts of the project's functionality. Automated testing allows you to test your code more efficiently and with greater quality.
There are many more advantages of utilizing automated testing for software development. And we are going to discuss a few of them in this article along with a few types of automated tests that can be used in a QA process. So let's get started.
Benefits of Automated Testing
There are many advantages of including automated testing as a part of your software testing life cycle. The ones mentioned below are just the teaser of an entire movie.
- You can get feedback on your code faster than if you were manually testing.
- Your tests are more likely to pass because they are automated.
- This helps prevent bugs from getting into the code base and causing more problems once released.
- You can run tests at night when there is less chance of someone interrupting you or slowing down the process by asking questions or reporting bugs (which could happen if you were in front of the computer).
- Automated testing reduces errors in code, tests smaller parts of the application more frequently, and provides more thorough coverage than manual testing.
- When you automate your tests, you can test faster and get feedback about your code changes sooner.
- Automated tests are less expensive than manual ones because they run frequently, which means fewer retests are needed as new versions of an app are released. This helps keep costs down for both you and your customers
- Another benefit is that automated tests can test your code on multiple platforms, which gives you a better understanding of how your code performs across different environments and hardware setups. Automated tests help developers identify bugs early in the development cycle before they become production-level issues.
Automated testing can be applied in many different ways, from regression testing (testing newly released features) to acceptance testing (testing whether your application works correctly).
Types of Automated Testing
Automated tests can take many different forms, including unit testing, functional testing, and performance testing.
Unit Testing
Unit tests check individual units of code, such as functions or classes. For example, a unit test might check that an application's data validation logic works properly by ensuring that the data received from a user is valid. If a unit test fails, this indicates that there may be some problem with the implementation of the component being tested or with how it has been coded.
Functional Testing
Functional tests check whether an application performs its required functions as expected by users. A functional test might verify that an application displays the correct information in response to a user entering specific information into a form or clicking on links within the application interface.
Functional testers also perform usability tests to validate that they can use an application correctly without having any knowledge of its inner workings.
Integration testing
Integration tests verify how two components interact with each other to create an application as a whole. They're often referred to as “functional” tests because they check whether your application works correctly from an end-user perspective rather than just from an internal perspective as a unit test would do.
White Box Testing
White box testing involves using the same programming language and application programming interface (API) used by the code being tested, instead of a different language or API.
Black Box Testing
Black box testing is a type of automated regression testing that involves writing tests in a different programming language and API than used by the software being tested. This allows for validating new features against old ones in an alternate environment.
Final words
After reading this article, I hope you have come to understand what an automated testing process is and how it can be beneficial for your business. You have also seen what kind of tests you can automate. Well, there are more benefits and tests than the ones mentioned here, but it was just to give you a gist. Thanks for reading!