What is Waterfall Model? Pros and Cons

Waterfall model is a sequential one which divides software testing and development into sequential phases in which each phase is designed to perform certain acts.
It’s simple and idealistic and serves as the base for many models that are being put to practice at present. A classic waterfall model divides any project into a set of phases. One phase can only start when the previous phase ends.
Let’s have a look at the different sequential phases in a waterfall model

 
Requirement Analysis:
The capture of all the requirement from customer, deep-rooted analysis, incomplete requirement omission, brainstorming, feasibility test, etc. are carried through in this phase.
After analysis, the requirements will be documented in a software requirement specification (SRS) document which serves as a contract between customer and testing company.
System Design:
Design specification document will be created in this phase to outline the technical design required for commencing the project. For instance, frameworks, tools and programming languages, etc.
Implementation:
As per the design programs or code will be written for various purposes. And the codes will be integrated to the next phase.
Testing:
Unit tests will be conducted to make sure that the system is working as per the requirement. All functional and non-functional testing will be conducted in this phase.
During testing, if any anomalies are found it will be reported. Progress of the testing will be tracked using tools. Proper documentation of defects will be reported.
Deployment:
Product will go under the final test to ensure that the application is fully functional and can perform according to the requirement in a live environment
Maintenance:
Corrective, adaptive and predictive maintenance will be carried out in this phase. This maintenance can also be used for updating or enhancing the product.
Before moving to another stage there will be review and sign off process to make sure that goals that have been defined in the requirement phase have been met.
Waterfall model is specifically used for projects that have defined documentation, definite requirement, ample resources, specific timeline, etc.

When to use waterfall model in software testing

• When there is no change in requirement of project
• Application that needs testing is smaller in size
• When there is a stable environment
• When the resources is limited
• When there is required expertise available

Advantages and disadvantages of waterfall model

Advantages of waterfall model

  • Clear documentation and planning will ensure that large or shifting team to move towards a common goal.
  • Works well for small projects
  • Phases are easy to maintain since they are rigid and well-constructed
  • Disciplined and organized
  • Reinforces good testing habit
  • Specification change can be made easily
  • Milestones and deadlines can be defined clearly
Disadvantages of waterfall model
  • If there is any flaw the entire process has to be started again
  • Lack of adaptability
  • Ignores Mid-Process User/Client Feedback
  • Many testing models incorporate testing to the process on the other hand waterfall model movies away from testing

Conclusion
Nowadays projects are moving on to Agile and prototype models. But, for small projects waterfall model is effective if the requirement can be clearly defined.
 

What’s Spiral Model? Advantages and Disadvantages

Spiral model is the combination of both sequential model and prototype model. The spiral model is specifically designed for projects which are huge in size and requires regular enhancements. The spiral model is somewhat similar to the incremental model but more emphasis on risk analysis, engineering, and evaluation.
To understand better have a look at the sequential diagram about the model!
spiral model diagram

Phases involved in Spiral Model

Planning phase: All the required information about the project will be gathered in this phase. Requirements such as BRS (business requirement specification and SRS (system requirement specifications), design alteration, etc. will be done in this phase. Cost estimation, scheduling the resources for iteration, etc. also happens in this phase.
Risk Analysis: Requirements of the project is studied and brainstorm sessions are conducted to figure out potential risks involved. Once the risk has been identified proper strategies and risk mitigation methodologies will be planned.
Testing phase: Testing alongside developmental changes will be done in this phase. Coding, test case development, test execution, test summary report, defect report generation, etc. happens in this phase.
Evaluation phase: Customer can evaluate the tests and can give feedback before the project goes to the next level
1st iteration – Activities such as panning, initial risk analysis, engineering evaluation, requirement gathering happens.
2nd iteration – Higher level planning, detailed risk analysis, evaluation happens in this phase
3rd iteration – Testing related activities such as coding, tool selection, resource allocation, which test to choose? Etc. happens in this phase.
4th iteration – In this customer is the key where they can evaluate the entire process and express their option regarding it.

When to use the spiral model?

  • When cost and risk is high
  • Medium to high-risk project
  • Frequent release requirement
  • Complex project
  • Projects that require constant change
  • Not feasible long term projects owing to the change in economic priorities

Advantages and disadvantages of spiral model

Advantages

  • Risk management is easy in this type of model. When you are handling expensive and complex projects, risk management is a must. Moreover, Spiral model has the ability to make any software testing project transparent.
  • Customer can see and review the test and different stages
  • Projects can be separated into various parts to ease the management difficulty
  • Documentation control is strong in this type of methodology
  • Project estimate will tend to be more realistic as it progresses.

Disadvantages

  • Cannot be used for small projects as it can be expensive
  • A vast amount of documentation owing to several intermediate stages
  • The end date of the project cannot be calculated at the early stages of the project
  • Complex process
  • High expertise is required to run the model


Conclusion
Each spiral that can be seen in the diagram above acts as a loop for a separate process in testing. the four main activities, planning risk analysis, testing, coding and project evaluation will be repeated again for the required amount of phases for any project.
Implementation of the model requires personnel who are highly experienced in it since the Spiral model is exclusively meant for larger products and risk analysis the most important feature.

What is V Model in Software Testing?

Among the many available testing models, the V model in software testing is the most widely used applied and accepted one. This model allows for a better quality analysis with less discretionary errors.
To overcome the cost and time issue of other software testing systems, v model has been developed. In the current scenario, the V model has become famously omnipresent with the software testing and development industry.
The Developmental History of the V model
v model in software testing
V model emerged into the existence probably in mid ninety were many research papers have documented about its usage. In 1979 Bart W.
Boehm published a paper where he emphasized on the usage of verification and validation and talk about an appropriate model to manage the drawbacks of the waterfall model.

What is V Model in Software Testing?

V model is also known as verification and validation software model is an SDLC (system development life cycle) and STLC (software testing life cycle) based where main execution process takes place in a sequential manner of v shape.
V model is nothing but the extension of the waterfall model which is based on the association of the development phase and each of the corresponding testing phases.
That means there is a direct link between the testing cycle and the development cycle. V model in software testing is highly specific model and movement to next only occur after completion of the first cycle.

Now let’s have a deeper insight into V model
In the V model, the testing phase and development phase are designed in such a way that they are planned parallel to each other.
So if we take alphabet V there is validation on one end and verification on the other end and the joining point of the both is the coding phase.
In this, the software testing starts at the beginner level right after writing of requirements.
Let us have a look at what is verification and validation.
Validation:  It has static analysis or the review technique used without executing code usage. In this stage, the whole thing is about evaluating the product development to find out whether specified requirements of the client are met.
Verification: It involves the dynamic analysis of functional as well as non-functional software, testing is done with the help of executing code. It evaluates the software prepared in the developmental stage to check whether they meet the customer expectation or not.
The testing phase of the V model may include:

  1. Unit testing:

It is developed in the model designing phase, to eliminate any bug if present.

  1. Integration testing:

It is performed after completion of unit testing and in this modules are integrated into the system to be tested. This verifies the communication aspect.

  1. System testing:

It looks after the functional and non-functional requirements.

  1. User acceptance testing(UAT):

It is performed in the user environment that simply resembles the production unit, in this step it is made sure that the software is ready to be used in the real world.

Advantages of the V model

  1. Easy to understand and apply, with its flexibility it is easier to manage.
  2. It is a highly discipline-based model and can be used in specific industries like health.
  3. As each step is designed in a very rigid and fixed manner so it is much easier to do the review process.
  4. It is useful in smaller projects where requirements are less and well known.
  5. Useful in projects where documentation is fixed and no ambiguous technological changes are required.

Significance of the V model
As we all know that the V model is a direct extension of the waterfall model, waterfall model has many drawbacks like

  1. Testing only starts after implementation is already done.
  2. It is difficult to work on large projects as key details are subject to being missed out.
  3. If you make any mistake at any point you must design the whole software to combat the error.
  4. Architectural defect in the designing and defect introduction.
  5. Cost of fixing a defect is way too high.

To combat all these point V model of software testing came into existence so that for every development phase there is the testing phase this allows the error to be caught as early as possible.
The left side is the software development cycle and the right side is a software test cycle.

Feature of V model in Software Testing

  1. Information gathering stage

Have a word with the client and gather as much information as possible. Try to figure out the specifications and details of the software desired to be tested.

  1. Design

Work on the language script like java or.net and database like Oracle. Try to choose high-level functions which will be the technicality of the project and suits the corresponding software testing well.

  1. Build stage

After design selections build the coding of the software to be tested, this step is also known as the coding.

  1. Test stage

Now next test the software to verify that all the requirements are fulfilled.

  1. Deployment stage

Place the application within the respective environment

  1. Maintenance

Change the code as per the customer.
Why prefer V model

  1. Proactive tracking of the defect

The defect can be found in very early stage hence cost is reduced in this model of software testing.

  1. Have specific deliverables

This makes it easy to review and manage.

  1. High success rate

When compared with the waterfall model as a developmental test plan are used early in the life cycle of the software chances of success are high.

  1. Time consumption

In comparison with other models, time consumption is less.

  1. Manage the resources

It utilities every details aspect of resources available.

  1. Accommodate changes

As the V model has an incremental approach this permits the prediction of changes required. So changes can be made where it is required.

  1. Verification planning

Consistent configuration allows early verification, on the other and optimization of the verification can be achieved easily.

  1. Prevent defect

V model can very well display where validation should be performed, so it makes each artifact to be tested convenient and ensure problem solution. So it perfectly avoids the defect occurs in the operation phase itself.

When to use the V model

  1. V model is used when a lot of technical support is present also expertise specific are present.
  2. The requirement of the tester is clearly known and specified.
  3. When there is time as well as money constraint.

Conclusion
To finish off we can say that there are numerous developmental life cycle models present in the software testing. Selection of the most appropriate model is purely based on the requirement goal and vision of the project.

Also one must remember that testing is no a single entity but it has several layers within it, that has to adapt with each project cycle chosen according to the requirement. Also in any model one should perform testing at all the levels right from the requirement to maintenance.
 
 

Emulator Vs Simulator : What is the Difference?

In the current scenario of increasing mobile technology exploration of various aspect of artificial intelligence and machine learning is going hand in hand, use of the simulator and real device for the perfect running of the mobile when in the hand of the customer is not new.
As a basic practice, it is preferred that a developer should use an emulator for fast development and management of the applications whereas the testing team who needs to have all the quality checks made on time should use a real test device to be best assured.

What is Simulator?

  • Sometimes to save on the cost factor companies introduce using a simulator or consider a virtual tool which can test as close to real, this allows the developers to have exploration of a wide base of applications which can work on the different geographical location across the globe. They are very cost efficient as they save the money of buying the real device.

What companies prefer currently

  • However simulators and emulators are considered good for the initial stage development of the application but large companies which release finances and business related applications need to have perfect running applications without any defects, so they prefer working on the real-time devices before it goes to the production unit.
  • For proper functioning, a balanced organization prefers to make strategies and plan their activities well in advance to determine the final outcome. This also allows them to choose the stage at which they have to introduce the real devices at their testing house.
  • The best practice in the current technological drift is to use emulators for speeding up the debugging process and the better application coding while other features like smoke testing, network and performance should be done on the real devices.

For a clear picture of their difference, let us take a brief about what this testing device means.

What is the Real Testing Device?

  • It is used for testing the functionality of your mobile applications in real device mode; they ensure that the working of the device application is smooth and convenient when in the hand of the consumer.

What is Emulator?

  • These are basically the software programs which allow the mobile devices to initiate basic feature of another device like a computer or mobile software which you want to imitate on your own device by installing them.

What is the exact difference between the Emulator and Simulator testing?

  • Both emulator and simulator are devices which are virtual in term of their usage. A device which is not real like a phone, but has software which gives similar functionality as that of a real phone is a simulator, except for few features like camera.

Let us see the key differences between Emulator and Simulator.

  1. Simulator-based testing has the main objective to simulate the internal state of the device as close as the internal state whereas emulators aim at the mimicking the outer behavior as similar as possible.
  2. The simulator is more referred where the team requires testing of the external behavior and pattern of the device for example calculations, whereas emulators are used where testing is on the internal behaviors’ and patterns like hardware.
  3. Simulators are based on the level of the high language and emulators are basically on machine level assembly.
  4. It is difficult to use a simulator for debugging on the other hand emulators is best at it.
  5. The simulator is nothing but just the original software re-implementation; emulator has it already in its complete form.

Emulator Testing differentiated against Real Device Testing

1. In terms of Application which are situation based

  • Emulator testing is used for the specific situation which has a deadline of short duration and results have to be produced along with execution in a given time period. Sometimes it is necessary to use the emulator in circumstances which are relevant to a mobile application which is to be tested.
  • In the real device, the tester has to test everything in all real-time scenarios for mobile applications. These devices operate by using fingers and simulate real-time usage. This allows the working of application in situations like bright sunlight or rainy day.

2. As close as Real handheld devices

  • When the tester is not sure about the mobile devices which have to be used and how to invest in testing it creates the problem, so for people who have budgeted limit can go with emulator or simulator.
  • A real device allows testers to use the look and feel of particular application both in night and day condition.

3. Ease of using

  • Emulators or simulators are working on the cases which have free software backup and can be downloaded very easily through the web and are ready to be tested in a short period of the time.
  • Real-time allows the tough testing options like working for continuous 10 to 15 hours which cannot be in the case of the emulator.

4. Using in term of Web Application and its opening through URL

  • It is much easier for the user or tester as they have to do copy paste and the application is ready to be used.
  • In real time devices testing requires fulfillment of more terms of reliabilities.

5. Ease of taking Snapshots and Screenshots in case of Defect Appearance

  • Taking capture of various issues related to screenshots is easy in simulators as we have to use Microsoft office only.
  • It is useful in cases of testing operating system which is more internal.

Know More: 52 Software Testing Tools you must know in 2019 

6. Batteries

  • They are not helpful in simulating battery issues.
  • Real devices can easily do it

7. Incoming Interrupts Validation

  • Simulators are not made to interpret the incoming calls and SMS services.
  • Real-time devices can do that conveniently.

8. Performance

  • For the purpose of performance, simulators are proved to be much slower than the original mobile devices whereas the original devices are super fast.

9. Color Display

  • Simulator fails to have the exact color display in terms of high configuration and in bright sunlight whereas original devices tend to perform much better when it comes to color display.

10. Memory

  • The memory on the simulator or emulator is enormous and far large when compared to the real devices whereas in the real devices they are much lesser.

In terms of disadvantages real device and simulator both have their own drawbacks, in simulator tester cannot test the long term efficiency of the application, not suitable for certain type of test functions and executions, also tester team need to use software patches on the other hand real devices are hefty and costly, have timeline constraints and are harder to connect with the IDE which causes problem in the debugging.
Conclusion
A careful watch of pros and cons of using such a testing device system lead to a better conclusion which provides the optimal mobile solution related to testing which is necessary for strict, stringent and strong quality assurance.

So the basic idea goes with the optimal usage for both. The ultimate goal is to understand and study the market needs and develop a business-oriented use of these technologies.

Poor QA Can Be A Thanos Snap For Your Business

Thanos shook the world with his snap in the 4th Avenger movie Infinity War. He has successfully managed to decimate half of the world with the power of the infinity gauntlet.  Even though it’s a movie, for the first time the world witnessed the victory of a villain in a superhero flick. The same became the main USP for the movie.
However, what Thanos has done can happen to your business in no time if your company is not concerned about Quality Analysis.
The only difference here is there is no End Game to rectify the damage since this is real life.
So what exactly is QA and why is it so crucial? let’s find out!
********End Game Spoiler Alert! ********

Reality Check!
We don’t have a time machine to reverse the damage that has been done. There is no Tony Stark to make it happen, there is no Captain America, Black Widow, Bruce Banner, Ant-man and Hawk-Eye to travel to the past and make it all right.  All we have is the proper methodology and practices to make sure that nothing goes wrong.
Let’s imagine Thanos and his accomplices as potential bugs in any software. They will cause trouble and can be catastrophic to your business.
But you will not get an End Game to correct everything. You have to make sure that you find Thanos eliminate him in the infinity war itself with the help of a team that has the capability of doing so.
The Thanos Snap, Poor QA, How does it affect your business?

  • Low Revenue
  • Losing credibility in public view
  • Increase in production cost
  • Wastage of resources
  • Late product delivery and as a result, poor customer review
  • Reworking cost

Let’s have a look at the most effective way to track bug in any software

  • Always make sure that the process that you are adopting for bug tracking supports the end goal
  • Rely on a tool that suits well with the process
  • Do not throw all at once to your team. Remember they are on a mission make sure that they are focussed and task allocation in such a way that it’s easy on them
  • Your bug tracking database can also work as a scheduling tool for many aspects related to testing
  • Make sure that the defects have been detailed well in the report
  • Learn about multiple bug tracking methodologies and adopt one that you think as effective
  • Time allocated on tasks should be perfect, not up anymore not up any less
  • Do not have vague exit criteria. Make sure that the validation for changes that you have prescribed is satisfactory.

The correct process involved in Quality Analyses

  1. Requirement gathering – Clear idea about the requirement of the project will be written in an understandable format
  2. Test strategy formation – Strategy is essential for efficient QA and to make sure that the stakeholder is confident.
  3. Test planning – Once testers have the basic requirements. Test strategy will be implemented
  4. Test Execution – This is the process where bug and defect tracking and documenting them takes place.
  5. Before release testing – counter checking of implemented changes happens in this phase


Tips from Nick Fury! How to choose the best QA team?

  • Each project requires a unique approach and methodology.
  • Make sure that the personnel involved in the testing has deep-rooted knowledge about the product and methodology that’s about to be adopted for the project

  • Communication skill is very important to make sure that all the testers can communicate well between each other and with you
  • IP (intellectual property protection) is one of the most important aspects of any team.
  • Make sure that the outsourcing company you are relying on will not disclose any detail about your product
  • Make sure that the testers are flexible to various conditions.
  • They should be well-acquainted with various process and methodology of testing and must be able to combine real-life scenarios with product testing.
  • Make sure that the testers can understand the requirements well.

What is Rational Unified Process Methodology?

Rational Unified Process in Software Testing
Rational Unified Process (RUP) methodology uses the object-oriented approach in its design and the use of UML (Unified Modeling Language) notation is designed and documented to illustrate the processes in action. It uses commercially proven techniques and practices.
It is a process considered heavy and preferably applicable to large development teams and large projects, but the fact that it is extensively customizable allows it to be adapted to projects of any scale.
Rational Unified Process Methodology
Specifics
For project management, the RUP(Rational Unified Process) model provides a disciplined solution such as the tasks and responsibilities outlined within a software development organization.
RUP (Rational Unified Process) is, in itself, a software product. It is modular and automated, and its entire methodology is supported by several development tools integrated and sold by IBM through its “Rational Suites.”
The methods of competition in the field of software engineering include “clean rooms” (considered heavy) and agile (light) such as Extreme Programming (XP-Extreme Programming), Scrum, FDD, and others.
There are certain guidelines and templates that are defined, for the staff members of a production cycle, by RUP: part of the client and an evaluation of the progress of the project by its management. It helps developers to stay focused on the project.
Management Requirements
Proper documentation is essential for any large-scale project; note that RUP describes how to document functionality, system limitations, design restrictions, and business requirements.
The use cases and the scenarios are examples of dependent process artifacts, which have been considered much more effective in capturing functional requirements.
The Use of a Component-Based Architecture
The component-based architecture creates a system that can be easily extensible, promoting reuse and software an intuitive understanding. A component usually refers to an object in object-oriented programming.
RUP provides a systematic way to build this type of system, focusing on the production of an executable architecture in the early stages of the project, that is, before committing resources on a large scale.
The Components referred to here are generally included in the infrastructures already existing in the place. These infrastructures include CORBA as well as Component Object Model (COM).
The Use of Visual Software Models in the Rup Model          
By abstracting the programming of your code and representing it using graphical building blocks, RUP can be an effective way to get an overview of a solution.
The use of visual models can also allow individuals with a less technical profile (as clients) to have a better understanding of a given problem, and thus be more involved in the project as a whole.
The UML modeling language has become an industry standard for representing projects, and is widely used by RUP!

Know More: Read about Exclusive details of Agile Testing

Check Software Quality
It does not ensure software quality is the most common failure in all computer systems projects. Usually, one thinks about the quality of the software after the completion of the projects or the quality is the responsibility of a different team development team.
Management and Control Change Software
In all software projects, the existence of change is inevitable. RUP defines methods to control and monitor changes. As a small change can affect applications in totally unpredictable ways, change control is essential to the success of a project.
RUP (Rational Unified Process)also defines the areas of work and security, which guarantees a programmer that changes in another system will not affect your system.
Phases of the RUP Methodology
So far these guidelines are general, to be adhered to go through the life of a project cycle. The phases (see figure below) indicate the emphasis given in the project at a given moment. To capture the temporal dimension of a project, RUP divides the project into four different phases:

Initiation or Design: emphasis on the scope of the system;
Preparation: emphasis on architecture;
Construction: emphasis on development;
Transition: emphasis on the application.
RUP is also based on the 4 Ps:

  • People
  • Design
  • Product
  • Process

The layers are composed of iterations. Iterations are windows of time; iterations have defined the term as the phases are objective.
All phases generate artifacts. These will be used in the next phase and document the project and allows a better follow-up.
Design Phase
The design or initiation phase contains the workflows necessary for the agreement of interested parties – stakeholders – with the objectives, architecture, and planning of the project. If these actors have good knowledge, it will not be necessary to analyze. Otherwise, a more elaborate analysis is required.
In this stage, the essential requirements of the system are transformed into use cases. The objective is not to close them at all, but only those that are necessary to shape the opinion.
The step is usually short and is used to define if it is feasible to continue with the project and define the risks and the cost of the last one. A prototype can be made for the client to approve. As the RUP cites, the ideal is to perform iterations, which must be well defined in terms of their amount and objectives.
Elaboration Phase
The preparation will be for the design of the system, as a complement to the survey and/or documentation of use cases, in front of the architecture of the system, to review the business model for the project and to start the version of the user manual. One must accept: Product description (increase + integration) is stable; the project plan is reliable? The costs are eligible?
Construction Phase
In the construction phase, the physical development of the software starts, production codes, alpha tests. Beta tests were carried out at the beginning of the transition phase.
You must accept the tests, stable and test processes, and the system code is “baseline”.
Transition Phase
In this phase is the delivery (“deployment”) of software, which carries out the deployment and delivery plan, the monitoring and the quality of the software. Products (releases, versions) are going to be delivered, and place customer satisfaction. This stage also takes place the training of the users.
Disciplines of the RUP (Rational Unified Process) Methodology
The Business Modeling Discipline
Organizations are increasingly dependent on IT systems, so it is imperative that information systems engineers know how applications are integrated into the development of the organization. Companies invest in IT, which understands the competitive advantage of value added by technology.
The goal of business modeling is to first establish a better understanding and communication between business engineering and software engineering.

Understanding the business means that software engineers must understand the structure and dynamics of the target company (the client), the current problems that the organization is facing and potential methods and strategies for making amends.
Another important aspect that must not be undermined is that the relevant parties such as the developers as well as the customers and also the end-users must have a clear understanding about the organization, and an important feature of this understanding is that it must be common among all the parties involved.
Business modeling explains how to describe the vision of an organization in which the system will be implemented and how to use this vision as a basis to describe the processes, functions, and responsibilities.
Course Requirements
This course explains how to get requests from interested parties (“interested parties”) and convert them into a set of requirements that the products work within the system to be built and provide the detailed requirements for what is necessary for the system.
Analysis and Design of the Discipline (“Design”)
The purpose of the analysis and design is to show how the system will be carried out. The objective is to build a system that:
Execute in a specific execution environment, tasks and functions specified in the descriptions of use cases
Satisfy all your needs
It is easy to maintain when there are no changes in the functional requirements, the results of the project in an analysis and design model optionally has an analysis model.
The design model is utilized as a conceptual version of the source code, displaying only the bare minimum. This allows the user of any one inspecting to ascertain the style in which the source code has been rendered.
The design model is rendered in such a way that it contains different divisions of designs. These divisions are stored within definite subsystems.
Every subsystem has a distinct interface that is precisely designed. It also contains descriptions of how the objects in these classes collaborate to carry out the design of use cases.
The Discipline Implementation
The effects of the application are:

  • With reference to the layered subsystems organized for an application, the organization code is configured.
  • The different classes or divisions of components are carried out. These components include
  1. Source Files
  2. Executables and
  3.  Binaries
  • Components developed as units are tested

Incorporate the results produced by the individual executors (or teams), in an executable system. The systems are achieved through the components of the application.
The process aims at performing an important function, which is to define the exact procedure to be utilized, in order to re-utilize components which are either; already existing or have been freshly introduced.
This allows for a hassle system maintenance possibility and a substantial improvement in chances of the utilization of components.
Discipline Test
The purposes of discipline testing are:

  • Check the interaction between objects
  • Check the correct integration of all software components
  • Check that all requirements have been executed correctly
  • Identify and ensure that defects are addressed before the software implementation
  • Make sure that all defects are corrected, reviewed and closed

Conclusion
In case there are defects in the project, their correction may take up unnecessary costs due to the defects not being brought to light within due time.
If the project, however, is tested in its entirety, this would be beneficial as any defects which might be creeping into the projects can be identified and ascertained at the earliest.

This will, in turn, have a massive reduction in the costs involved with the rectification of the defects. This is the iterative approach proposed by the Rational Unified Process.
In order for the test to bear fruits and have the best possible outcomes, the tests need to be conducted on four parameters of quality and also there must be set standards which need to be met for the project to be considered as have passed the test.

Top 20 Free Usability Testing Tools Available now

To improve the execution of your site, you have to see how users are utilizing it. Usability testing is an approach to assess how effectively people can achieve a given task. In this test, a subject is approached to finish a task, usually while being seen by a researcher, to reveal possible user issues. A usability test is otherwise called a user test.
We’ve accumulated the top 20 usability testing tools that will help you perform this test productively.

  1. Optimizely

Optimizely is an A/B testing platform which is pretty famous for being user-friendly, enabling its users to track both visits and conversions. This tool provides a lot of features including:

It’s free for users on the basic plan, though some additional features are available only on the enterprise paid plan.

  1. Usabilla

It is an advance usability testing tool which empowers you to gather feedback from your real users. You can additionally get in-depth reviews from potential users. From these, you can find what your visitors consider of your content, letting you optimize the web pages better.
Features of this tool include:

  • User-friendly
  • Heatmap analysis
  • Instant feedback
  • Offers solutions for visual surveys as well as email feedback
  1. Usability Hub

Usability Hub is a tool to test your mockups and designs on real users. They aren’t free, yet you can procure free tests by helping test other websites. This tool demonstrates interactions of visitors on your site, what they recall and where they commit errors. It can likewise be utilized before your site goes live.

Their tools include:

  • Five Second Test – for design
  • Nav Flow – to track conversion funnels
  • Click Test – to test clicks on site’s landing page

These features can give you every bit of knowledge essential to enhance your site’s ease of use and begin drawing more clients.

  1. Userbrain

Userbrain is a free remote usability testing tool, which is so simple to utilize that you’ll get dependent on testing your application with real users.
You can watch video recordings of individuals visiting your site and hear what they think. It’ll enable you to spot bugs, issues, and complex areas. You can consistently improve your website’s experience and assemble better products for more satisfied users with the help of weekly automated user tests.
Other features are:

  • Test on numerous devices and in various languages to encounter your site under different conditions
  • No restriction on the number of tasks you can request from the testers to perform

The tool is available at a moderate cost with just $14 for every user test with 100% satisfaction assurance. Also, there is no recruiting requisite as you get access to a pool of over 15,000 testers from throughout the world.

  1. Crazyegg

It’s a valuable and well-known visual analytics tool. Crazyegg is a great optimization tool which supports you in tracking the user’s behavior on your sites utilizing mouse tracking to get real-time reviews.
A click-based user experience tool with four critical features:

  • Heatmap – logs where every guest clicks on your website page.
  • Scrollmap – demonstrates how far down the page every visitor scrolls usually.
  • Confetti – gives comprehensive information about search terms, visitor sources, other different elements.
  • Overlay – separates the number of clicks on per page element.

Users get a free 30-day trial, without any requirement to buy a paid membership. Although these aren’t costly too, beginning at $9 for a month.

  1. Chalkmark

Users can initiate tasks and welcome others to participate after uploading of the screenshot for the UI they need to test. The outcomes are given heatmaps to indicate where visitors clicked, and a report determining the average time taken to finish the undertakings.
Key features include:

  • Build personas and assign tasks
  • Create up to three tasks on a similar image or different images for every test.
  • Wireframing and design
  • Information architecture
  • Analyze the test results
  1. Trymyui

Trymyui is a stunning tool available online for usability testing. It just takes minutes to set up your test with this tool.
It empowers testers to personalize their tasks. You can compose a list of tasks or questions that you want users to reply or perform on your site.
You’ll at that point get constant feedback which unmistakably proves what visitors think about your application or site and notices where they’re restricting.
Other features include:

  • Impression testing
  • Demographic curation
  • Written survey
  • Keystrokes
  • Video screen caps
  1. OptimalWorkshop

This tool offers three distinct parts of usability, and every one of them comes with a free-for-life plan. While the complimentary benefits have a few conditions, utilizing them could enable you to determine if it’s worth to try for a paid test.
The key features are:

  • Optimal Sort for card sorting
  • Treejack to perceive how individuals connect with your website structure
  1. IntuitionHQ

Utilizing IntuitionHQ gives you target data about how visitors will utilize the pages designed by you.To make a usability test, you transfer screenshots after that compose tasks to be completed by users.
With the free plan, you can:

  • conduct ten live tests with up to 350 participants
  • create unlimited questions
  1. UserPlus

The UserPlus is a free tool, presently available in alpha. The tool offers incredible tips and best practices for improving the usability of your website.
In three simple steps, users can:

  • Transfer a screenshot
  • Tag elements on the page you are searching for guidance on
  • Discover the usability score

Also, with UserPlus Advisor, users can find the most significant hindrances that might negatively affect your income stream. Users can sign up to be welcomed to participate.

  1. Five Second Test

When users use five seconds test, they don’t just get a chance to set up their test for the website.However, it also enables them to test others’ site.
Intended to enable users to quantify the viability of their designs, users can direct a five-second test to discover which components of your designs are the most notable. You can do this in two different methods:

  • Memory test: In it, users have five seconds to take a look at the design and after that are approached to recall particular components.
  • Click test: In it, users have five seconds to find and tap on the particular components of their design.
  1. Feng-GUI

With Feng-GUI usability testing platform you get a free demo that enables you to test one picture at regular intervals. The features include:

  • an algorithm to simulate users
  • an eye-tracking map to indicate which regions of the page get the most attention

  1. GTMetrix

GTmetrix gives you understanding into how well your site loads and gives significant suggestions on the most proficient method to improve it. Alongside that monitor performance of the page with scheduled managing and picture it with intuitive graphs.
The key features you get with this tool are

  • Page load time
  • Total page size
  • Total number of requests
  1. Google Analytics

Every site must use it by default because it can tell you so much about sharpening and improving its usability. It determines where you are losing visitors and after how much time.
Other features are:

  • Establish conversion goals and measure them
  • Offers valuable insights to tweak layout and content
  1. Google PageSpeed Insights

It’s a free tool which is a simple dashboard enabling you to insert any URL you require speed data on, and within a few seconds, you get an accurate report on its speed.
The data is offered on two specific metrics to check how fast a web browser of user begins to show the pixels of your site after the user clicks a button. Those metrics are:

  • First Contentful Paint (FCP)
  • DOM Content Loaded (DCL)
  1. Website Grader

Usability tester by Hubspot, which shows UX score of your website in four simple sections:

  • Performance grades
  • Mobile grades
  • SEO grades
  • Security grades
  1. Mouseflow

Mouseflow comes with a free version using it you can see detailed heatmaps and scroll-reach statistics. Heatmaps are overlays displayed on top of the content of your site where you can view precisely which portions of the page are receiving the maximum attention.
Its features cover:

  • Tweaking layouts to boost conversion rates
  • Doing analytics
  1. Qualaroo

It’s a platform which integrates directly with your site as well as with many other software tools used by you. Its features are:

  • Offers insight relying on how your visitors behaved on it
  • Generate brief exit questions to present to the visitors when they leave your site
  1. ClickHeat

An open source software which gives a visual heatmap of clicks on a webpage. It remains on your web server, so you get results from the actual website visitors.

Its key features include:

  • Low logging activity
  • Screen sizes and browsers are logged
  • Allows you to group the same pages
  1. WebPageTest

One more open source optimization tool developed by Google & AOL for checking website performance. A thorough visual comparison is likewise possible with it.
Its test results offer rich diagnostic data including:

  • Page Speed optimization checks
  • Resource loading waterfall charts
  • Suggestions for changes

What is Quality Assurance (QA)? Process and Methodology

Quality Assurance (QA) is something other than manual testing. The current frameworks are more unpredictable than customary methodologies can deal with. New automated test methods have developed enabling machines to automatically and thoroughly test themselves for flaws.

With this article, we are going to give you in-depth knowledge about Quality Assurance.
quality assurance
What is Quality Assurance?

Quality Assurance (QA) or Software Quality Assurance (SQA) is a planned and systematic model of activities essential to give satisfactory assurance that a product adjusts to prerequisites amid software improvement.

SQA incorporates the complete software development life cycle, and the purpose is to make sure that the development and support processes are refined continuously to generate products which satisfy specs.

Remember that the range of quality isn’t restricted to merely Software Testing. For instance, how adequately the requirements are asserted and also maintained quite matter.

Software Quality Assurance comprises of strategies and practices of evaluating the software development methods, processes, technologies, and tools used to guarantee the quality of the created product. It is typically accomplished by using well-planned standard systems, covering processes and tools, for quality control to assure the reliability and dependability of the product.

What are the principles of software quality assurance?

The important principles to follow for software quality assurance are:

1. Stopping Problems Before They Happen: It is better to prevent mistakes in the software development process from occurring rather than correcting them later on. This principle states the importance of finding and temporarily resolving issues at an early stage in a procedure.

2. Always Getting Better: Quality assurance of software is not a one-off process. It should be an integral part of the entire development cycle. This principle advocates for constant checking and updating of the software throughout its operation.

3. Including Everyone: All stakeholders, such as developers clients and testers along with the project managers need to work together. This principle notifies that all need to communicate and work together to produce quality software.

4. Focusing on the Big Risks: It is necessary to define and manage the most significant risks in software. This principle refers to focusing on the risks that have the maximum potential impact on software.

Due to these principles, the software is not just fixed when problems appear but it is made with high quality from the beginning.

The Quality Assurance process can involve –

  • Recognizing standards when any applied in software development methods.
  • To carry traditional processes, for example, quality reviews.
  • Conduct in-process test data recording processes.
  • Encouraging documentation procedure measures.

This extraordinary issue fills in as a platform for experts to display hypothesis, results, understanding, and different progressions in Software Quality Assurance process.
Process of Quality Assurance


Below are a few quality characteristics of the Quality Assurance process –

  1. Concentrate on the User Experience

Testing at all stages of the venture is critical. However, the most dominant point is the user experience.
In case that the UX is terrible, it unavoidably implies the quality isn’t of standard. Despite the fact that this will presumably result in variations in the earlier stage of software development, the user experience should dependably be at the leading place.

  1. Automation and Continuous Integration

Automation is essential since it offers quick review, empowering continuous integration – an important part of the agile approach.
Automation is additionally solution to lessening costs and improving the productivity of your QA staff; that is one of the principle reasons why QA engineers must teach themselves and be apt to execute automation processes.

  1. Test and Code Coverage

Numerous QA managers ramble about “test coverage,” that gives a decent broad image of the quality of the product. But to accomplish genuine quality, test cases and code coverage examination both ought to be held.
For instance, regardless of the fact that 100% test coverage is performed by you, you have to, in any case, go for a minimum 90% function code coverage to guarantee the best outcomes.

  1. The Shift-Left Approach

Software testing begins commonly once the coding stage is finished. In any case, for ideal quality in an agile strategy, you have to drive the concentration and start checking as well as testing directly from the origin of the venture. It guarantees bugs are identified sooner, that saves both money and time.
Additionally, it ensures a positive association with developers in the group, quickens the delivery of the application, and takes into consideration more noteworthy test coverage.

  1. Smart Testing

Full and thorough testing can now and again lead to a challenge since numerous personals might not have resources or time to experience each reasonable combination of cases.
But you ought to be smart in how and what to test. It implies, speaking with the engineer to discover little experiments that will identify the best number of bugs.

  1. Bug Prevention

QA managers are prepared to detect bugs, but an ingenious QA specialist will likewise consider how to avoid them in any case.
Conventional QA begins testing at the UI level, yet an agile process begins with the functional and unit testing and after that moves to the UI phase. This methodology keeps bugs from entering the top level of development which can later on lead to more severe issues and likely postpone the delivery.
Furthermore, concentrate on major crucial bugs and errors at first as opposed to many small errors.

  1. Portability

It is critical for software to adjust to various environments. For example, a framework should operate just as efficiently on a web platform as it works on mobile.
The versatility, installability, replaceability, and conformance of the product should be recorded respectively.

  1. Reliability

A system crash is not a unique situation. However, in quality testing, you require to check the system’s capacity to resist component breakdown. The system ought to be ready to get back into complete control even after a possible malfunction in the product.

  1. Documentation

This process manages the administration and archiving of documents. Any variation in a record is done by using the appropriate change control method. Approval of all kinds of documents is also done in this process.
Methods Used in Quality Assurance


There are a few distinct kinds of QA testing, which are all critical for guaranteeing your application is having no bug. Beneath, we’ve given the most vital QA testing methods to offer you a full comprehension of the testing procedure and how it improves your application, product, or software.
Non-functional Testing
QA testing can be separated into two sections: functional and non-functional testing. Before we discuss the functional testing, how about we take a look at the four phases of non-functional testing –

  • Vulnerability Testing

Vulnerability testing includes testing a site or application to find security holes and vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers. The objective of this phase of testing is to make sure that there are no security risks that could compromise users’ information or other sensitive data.

  • Compatibility Testing

Similarity testing includes checking that product is completely compatible with the software and hardware it will be running on.
A few components are tested amid this stage, from internet browsers to hardware, operating systems, integral modules, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

  • Usability Testing

Convenience testing includes testing that the software is intuitive and easy to use. The objective of this phase of the testing process is to ensure that the end user can utilize the product without dissatisfaction or confusion because of its design and UI.

  • Performance Testing

Performance testing includes confirmation that the product performs adequately in an assortment of conditions that could influence users, from substantial load to insufficient battery power.
The goal of a performance test is to make sure the application runs as it ought to and to determine its confinement utilizing load testing.
Functional Testing
Functional testing is generally separated into four segments. Every one of them is depicted beneath –

  • Unit Testing

The Unit testing method is the testing of individual software modules or parts that make up a system or an application.
The module’s developers normally write these tests and in a test-driven-improvement strategy, (for example, Agile, XP, or Scrum).They are written before the module is made as a component of the spec. Every module function is tested by a particular unit test installation written in a similar programming language like the module.

  • Integration Testing

This part of the testing process includes the testing of the distinctive modules or components that have been effectively unit tested when incorporated together to perform particular activities and tasks (otherwise called scenario testing).
This testing is typically finished with a combination of manual testing and automated functional tests relying upon the fact that it is easy to make automated tests for particular integrated components.

  • System Testing

System testing expands the scale of integration testing to test the whole framework all in all. A standard system test includes running the whole framework so as to find beforehand neglected bugs, stability problems, and serious issues.
As should be obvious, the initial three phases of functional testing include a steady increment in range, from a sole unit to many integrated units to a whole system.

  • Acceptance Testing

The acceptance testing technique is the last stage of functional software testing and includes ensuring that all the project or product necessities have been met. It also assures that the customers and end-users have tested the framework to ensure it works as assumed and meets all their defined prerequisites.

Different approaches to SQA

Within the scope of Software Quality Assurance (SQA), several approaches can be adapted depending on the specific nature of the software development process. Here’s an overview of different approaches:

1. Traditional Approach (Waterfall Model):
The traditional approach follows a hierarchical process, which is also referred to as the Waterfall model. All stages of requirement analysis, design, coding, testing and maintenance are completed before moving on to the next one. SQA is performed at the end of each gateway to verify requirements are met and minimize errors and defects.

2. Agile Approach:
The Agile approach includes its iterative, incremental and dynamic nature. It involves the delivery of small sections of software as well as enabling cooperation between development teams, testing teams and stakeholders. The focus is on self-organizing teams, continuous integration, testing test delivery and feedback which allows obtaining better results.

3. DevOps Approach:
As a combination of development and IT operations, DevOps puts customer satisfaction first. It focuses on collaboration, automation and continuous delivery while relying on continuous integration, testing and deployment of software for efficiency. This technique is appropriate for projects that need frequent revisions.

4. Six Sigma Approach:
The Six Sigma method uses a data-driven approach to minimize defects and errors in the software product. Through the use of statistical methods, it measures and enhances software quality. This methodology is appropriate for projects that focus on defect elimination.

5. Lean Approach:
Efficiency and waste reduction are the focus concerning Lean software development. Pointing to continuous improvement and elimination of non-value-added activities it is appropriate for projects aimed at efficacy enhancement and waste minimization.

6. Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) Approach:
CI/CD, on the other hand, focuses on continuous integration and deployment of software products. Focusing on automation, continuous testing and delivery, it is suitable for projects that require constant integration as well as deployment.

7. Test-Driven Development (TDD) Approach:
In Test-Driven Development, automated tests are written before the code is developed. This enables the code to comply with the requirements and specifications of a software product. Activities involved in the process are test case development, execution of tests and restructuring code to ensure quality results.

8. Risk-Based Approach:
The Risk-Based Approach to SQA implies defining and controlling the risks arising from software products. It includes risk analysis, mitigation and monitoring to ensure compliance with specified standards by the software product.

Finally, organizations can choose the SQA method that suits their goals, needs and resources to have software products with appropriate quality.

What is the importance of software quality assurance?

The importance of Software Quality Assurance (SQA) can be understood through various important aspects.
To commence, SQA ensures compliance of the software with specified quality standards and requirements thus creating a reliable product that is efficient as well as user-friendly.

Second, it saves costs and time by letting developers detect bugs before the program release eliminating prolonged modifications after an application launch.

Moreover, SQA contributes to ensuring the stability and competitiveness of a software product by inspecting every element against industry standards. This granular testing for multiple requirements including reliability, functionality, usability and portability creates a product of high quality.

In addition, SQA preserves a firm’s image by avoiding the delivery of poor-quality products. It is essential for a brand image and reputation to resolve issues before customers notice that there are problems.

Additionally, SQA is critical in driving security and compliance. It aids in helping the organizations to validate that their applications are effective, safe and reliable as per relevant regulatory requirements or industry-specific compliance standards, particularly on matters related to security data.

Finally, SQA ensures customer satisfaction.

In such a way, complete evaluation and testing of the software lead to final product development in line with all needs expressed by customers while functioning perfectly well. In short, the overall SQA process is a mandatory stage of any product launch for software.

What is the difference between quality assurance and quality control?

Two important concepts in software development, quality control and quality assurance often get distorted. Although they are both concerned with the quality of software, their approaches and goals are different.

Now, let us focus on the major distinctions between quality assurance and quality control in software development

Conclusion
Software Quality Assurance covers the entire process of development cycle to make sure that a product has met its specification in the top most quality possible.

Quality assurance identifies weakness and issues related to the process and will make sure that nothing like that surfaces. It works on continually improving the process of producing a better product. Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and ISO 9000 are widely used systems when it comes to Quality management.

What is gray/ grey box testing? Examples Included!

Gray box testing/ grey box testing is a method of testing a software system – application or product, externally and internally by using a combination of “white box testing” and “black-box testing”.
Gray box testing is carried out with limited or partial knowledge of the internal workings of the software system/application.
With a view to conquering the deficiencies and ambiguities found in such type of testing, Grey Box Testing (also spelled as Gray Box Testing) has been developed as a productive merger of white box and black box testing.
White Box Testing – the internal structure (code) is known
Black Box Testing – the internal structure (code) is unknown
Grey Box Testing – the internal structure (code) is partially known
let’s dive dip into the implication of grey/gray box testing in software engineering.
white box testing + black box testing
Grey Box Testing Methodology
First – White Box Testing to study and gain a basic understanding of the internal features of the application.
Second – Design and define test cases based on thorough knowledge and understanding to cover each and every aspect of the application.
Third – Black box testing to execute developed test cases to externally test the qualities of the software application.
Best Suited Applications:
Grey-box testing is an ideal fit for Web-based applications.
Grey-box testing is the best technique for domain or functional testing
Grey Box Testing Strategy in software engineering
It’s not necessary in this methodology that source code is required by the tester to design test cases. To carry out this testing process, test cases can be designed based on the algorithm, knowledge of architectures, internal states, or other advanced descriptions of the program behavior.
It utilizes all the clear-cut techniques of black box testing for function testing. The generation of a test case is based on requirements and presetting all the conditions by the assertion method.
The standard steps to carry out Grey box Testing are as follows:
Step 1: Selection and identification of inputs from White-Box and Black-Box testing inputs.
Step 2: Identification of probable outputs from the above-selected inputs.
Step 3: Identification of all the key paths to pass through during the testing phase.
Step 4: Identification of sub-functions to carry out deep-level testing.
Step 5: Identification of inputs for sub-functions.
Step 6: Identification of likely outputs for sub-functions.
Step 7: Execution of a test case for sub-functions.
Step 8: Verification of the appropriateness of outcome.
Step 9: Repetition of Steps 4 and 8.
Step 10: Repetition of Steps 7 and 8.
Security-related, GUI-related, Database related, Browser related, and Operational system-related testing are all part of the test cases designed for the process.
Types of Grey box testing/gray box testing/Grey box testing techniques
Matrix Testing
Matrix testing, a technique coming under Grey Box testing, defines all the used variables of a particular program. In any program, variables are the essential elements through which values can move through the program.
It should be on par with the requirement without which the readability of the program and speed of the software will be reduced. The matrix technique is a way to eliminate uninitialized and unused variables by identifying used variables from the program.
Examination of inherent risks like technical risks and business risks that are associated with the variables with different frequencies labeled by the software developer is carried out under this type of testing.
The design of test cases becomes smooth and easier when all of this information is summarized in two types of tables as in the following example:
All Info About Grey Box Testing (With Examples) All Info About Grey Box Testing (With Examples)
From the information in the above two tables, the testing analyst can immediately make out that the technical and business aspect of the code, namely saving and deleting records requires testing.
Regression Testing
This type of testing is carried out after executing a functional development or repair to the program.
To verify whether the modification in any of the previous versions of the software has regressed or caused any unintended or adverse side effect in other aspects of the program in the new version, the following testing strategies can be pursued:

  • Retesting within a firewall where dependencies are analyzed for choosing baseline tests
  • Retesting risky use cases where the risk factor is considered
  • Retesting all existing test cases
  • Retesting by profile where time is allocated in proportion to the operational profile
  • Retesting changed segment where code changes are compared for choosing baseline tests

At some stage in confirmation testing, if any defect got rectified, and that part of the software started functioning as intended, there might be a possibility that the rectified defect may have initiated a different defect somewhere else in the software.
Here, regression testing takes care of these types of defects by utilizing the above-mentioned testing strategies. The tester, as a reference, may use 80% of the allowed time to run existing test cases and 20% of the allowed time to execute exploratory testing.
Orthogonal Array Testing or OAT
The intention behind this testing is to locate defective logic in the system by providing coverage with the maximum code as well as GUI functions and with minimum test cases in a statistical and organized way of software testing.
Complex applications and e-comm products can be tested with this technique. Orthogonal Array Testing is composed of an array of values in which a variable is represented in each column and a test case is represented in each row.
A simple example is as follows:
All Info About Grey Box Testing (With Examples)
By conveying values for each factor and then, of course, extrapolating for combined pairing, the total number of test cases will surely come down to nine from 27.
Though simple, this effective technique helps in maximizing the required testing coverage.
Pattern Testing
This testing is carried out by using the record of analysis on the historical data of the previous system defects. These analyses may contain specific reasons for the defect or bug with information on the problem that has been addressed, applicable situation, generic test cases, etc.
Unlike black box testing, grey box testing plows within the code to determine the reason for the failure so that they can be fixed in the next software. It is noteworthy that pattern testing is applicable only to such type of software that has been developed by following the same pattern of previous software as the possibility of similar defects occurs in this software only.
Generally, the Grey box methodology employs automated software testing tools to conduct the testing. Module drivers and stubs are created to relieve the tester from manually generating the code.
Examples for grey/gray box testing
Grey Box Testing is said to be performed when –

  • The codes for two modules or units are studied for designing test cases which is the White Box Testing method and then
  • Actual tests are conducted using the exposed interfaces which are the Black Box Testing method.

For example, during testing of Drupal website containing links, if an error crops up while clicking that link, changes can be made in the HTML code for further checking. Here the user is carrying out white box testing by altering the code and black-box testing by testing on the front end.
Types of testing
Objectives of Grey Box Testing
Some of the main objectives are:

  1. To help combine the inputs from both testers and developers to get the best results
  2. To improve the overall quality of the product with less cost
  3. To find defects early and get the developers more time to fix the issues
  4. To combine the advantages of both black box and white box testing
  5. To reduce the overhead of functional and non-functional test documentations

Advantages of Grey Box Testing
Now, let us look at some of the advantages of choosing Grey Box testing.

  1. The testing is carried out from a user perspective and hence helps to improve the overall quality of the application.
  2. In most cases, the testers do not need technical or programming knowledge to get started with grey box testing. This also means that the manual and automation testers can both perform this testing with equal ease.
  3. Since the defects are found earlier, it gives the development teams more time to fix and deploy the changes.
  4. The clarity and transparency of the test ensure there are no conflicts between the testers and developers.
  5. It can be much more effective both quality-wise and cost-wise when compared to integration testing

Disadvantages of Grey Box Testing
In this section, we look at some disadvantages of Grey Box testing

  1. Since we are looking at only part of the system, it is very difficult to assign defects to a particular module.
  2. Since the testers have only limited access to the code, they have only limited knowledge about the paths traversed. This can reduce the coverage.
  3. It can be difficult to design effective test cases for grey box testing
  4. It can not be used for algorithm testing
  5. Neither white box nor black box testing benefits can be reaped fully through the process.

Challenges in Grey Box Testing
Here, we discuss few common challenges related to Grey Box Testing, that are preventing companies from utilizing it fully.

  1. In some cases, the test case may be a pass but the displayed results would be incorrect. Such cases can not be handled well in grey box testing.
  2. In case the module under test crashes it may lead to aborting the test and it would be difficult to find the reason.
  3. Testers do not have access to the source code, hence they may miss some critical vulnerabilities in the application
  4. For large applications, it can be very time-consuming to check all the input combinations and traverse all the different paths involved.

Tools used for Grey Box Testing
The tools used for automation of black and white box testing can also very well be used for Grey Box Testing. The most popular tools used are:

  • Selenium
  • Appium
  • Postman
  • Chrome Dev Tools
  • Burp Suite
  • JUnit
  • Cucumber
  • RestAssured

What is gray box penetration testing?
The main idea behind the gray box/ grey box pen testing is to form a precise idea about network security.  By leveraging the information provided in the design document of a particular network assessments can be made that can be used to predict risk-prone areas in a network.  Usually minimal credential and information is available for this type of testing.  The level of access a hacker could gain can be envisioned using this type of testing. In short, both internal and external attacks can be simulated
Grey-box-penetration-testing
Conclusion
Nowadays in this modern world, nobody is indisputably safe from cybercrime irrespective of whether it is a big corporate or an individual, government organization, or non-benefit association.
The potentiality of becoming a cybercrime target looms large. Grey box testing comes up as a priceless tool for securing security in software. Significant vulnerabilities can be uncovered by giving in less effort and cost.

Dating Apps Test: How To Test?

Dating Apps Test: Why do we need that? this question might have come across many companies thinking about leveraging the popularity of such apps.
You must Remember that there are hundreds of dating apps out there. Many are not successful? Reason? Bugs! Users will be always driven towards apps that have high user experience and stable.
To make a stable app you need to test it rigorously so that no bug will be there and the app can assure your company success.
to know more about how to perform Dating Apps Test, continue reading this blog

How to test a dating application
Before we move further in the topic of dating application, it is essential to know how these applications are even tested. This solid foundation will open up new doors in terms of coding and testing for us to understand the main concept of the headliner.
There are several applications for dating that can be downloaded in order to test them. Once, you have tested them, you can easily put up a review for developers to understand what goes wrong.
Whereas in most of the scenarios, a testing team is assigned to ensure that they understand the flow of an application and test it with the highest priority.
The main thing that a tester knows better than others is that a location specific application is easy to test but when it comes to multiple locations then it can be a daunting task.
It requires a lot of struggle and localization for the testing methods to come into play. So, let us understand the workflow in order to get a hang off dating application testing.
1. Download an application
It will actually depend whether you are putting up an application in the beta mode of testing or having a team to do the deed.
In the beta mode, some of the users are given an authority to test an application by downloading it and checking on the essential features. Whereas in the testing team mode, the testing team will follow up a certain process to test an application properly.
In the beta mode, a user is required to search an application on the store of their phone. One can easily click into an application with the help of keywords, description, and title of an application given by the developer.
In addition to this, it is essential to know the localization of that particular application. This will help in placing it in the group of a global or local audience.
Once, this is done, the people can download the application which has signed up for the beta mode. They can send out their reviews for developers to understand the bugs or errors. It is the best in case one don’t have local testers or they want the live response of their audience. The first and foremost thing that this will help in is to understand the downloading and installing process.

  • There are times when a user has trouble in downloading an application. This will help in eliminating that trouble.
  • Then there is third-party interference in an application that might trigger a user off. This point must be tested as well.
  • There can be a custom error during the time of launch that can be filtered out.
  • In addition to this, there might be memory errors or location issues.

In order to avoid these problems, it is better to launch an application as the beta testing. This will reveal a new dating application to users and even test your application.
2. Get registered
Now, since the download and installing are handled, comes the registration process of a user. For every single application, we all have seen two types of application. One of them is having a personal user password and ID while other depends on an API network. In the case of testing, it is essential to test both the aspect.
In the personal name and password system, one needs to fill in their account details and get them verified. There are many mandatory conditions such as email address and phone number through which an identity of an individual can be tested.
As the tester, you must know the importance of reset and cancel button as well. Then, once the details are submitted, check in the table and database where it is getting stored and how they are verifying the information. Make sure that no personal data is shared with the third-party application.
In case, some of the information is missing, check on the popup. These are essential things during the whole process. Then, comes the API network of the registration process.
This type of method requires an Open authorization (OAuth) process to check on the checklist of a process. The main thing that check is to know the security of the API network that is followed by the creditability.
3. Match Made
This is the most essential part of the whole dating application. The main work done by such an application is to make a perfect match as per the algorithm. The main aspect will be movies, books, hobbies, music, etc.

In this step, one needs to review the test criteria of a user on which the match is done. This can be achieved with the help of matching criteria test. Then, you need to check that if one criterion is changed then how an application is reacting.
This can be verified while matching the data of both the parties after the match is made. Then, you need to understand the whole concept of rejecting a person in the algorithm. This will give you basic information about the whole process of acceptance and rejection that occur in a dating application.
4. Personal Chats on the application
Once, the work is done, now move to the next step which will be getting in touch with the matched person. It is the part where one gets involved in the personal chat.
This features must be tested as per the connectivity and how many characters are shared among individual. There are two types of testing mode that is used to test this feature such as a functional test and performance test.
In the functional testing mode, the functions are tested in regards to launching a chat, sending and receiving messages, emoticons, files, etc. This will also include sharing off video, image, and even doc files.
The further steps will include the testing of the send button, launching options, visiting the profile, status of chats and even total limit of sending a message.
In the performance testing mode, one will check on the smoothness while running an application. It will include the personal chats time exist, continuous mode of working, the response time of the chats, failed message ratio, and even the sending mode of files. This will involve every aspect and how the application is reacting to the change.
5. Mode of Payment
Nothing is for free in the world, not even a dating application. There is a different mode of earning that is used by the developers to make bucks such as pro-version, in-app ads, in-app purchase and even user subscriptions.
These are the basic mode in which the developers make money. For all the cases, it is essential to test off few essential parts of an application such as card details, data transferring, etc.
The card details will include the personal information of users such as card type, card number, account number user registration number, expiration date, CVV number, holders name, etc.
This type of information is extremely sensitive and requires multiple modes of security. Hence, it becomes essential to test the data transferring to ensure that no data of a user can be leaked. For be sure, a tester needs to test, the server connection security and also the verification mode such as SMS, phone, Chatbot and even emails.
6. Testing user experience
Now, the final step of testing is to test how the total experience of a user is while testing a date application. It can be determined in terms of the technical viewpoint to check on the perspective of a user.

However, this can be tested by the user as per their planning mode since there is a different mode to follow this type of testing. It will have a transition animation scale, window animation scale, animator duration scale, etc.
Final Words
The main reason that people are actually bending toward dating application is that it is extremely popular as compared to other application.
People are depending on them due to advancement in the globalization of an application.
This allows them to get in touch with other people all around the globe. Also, due to modernization, people don’t have much time to go and focus on their love life.
It is a chance for them to get a proper life with different people. Also, one can found their soulmate or a friend for a lifetime. Hence, it is a win-win situation.