Software Testing

Software Testing Lifecycle

Software Testing Lifecycle Is An Important Phase.

Software testing lifecycle is an important part of the development of software. A software development has various stages from the idea generation to the successful online implementation of the project. The successful implementation of a project is referred to as software development lifecycle or SDLC in the IT industry today. The idea of the software has to be accepted and requirement study and the desired results should go hand in hand. The blue print is developed and then the project is divided into smaller problems to solve; these problems or tasks to be completed are divided and work is allocated to the software engineers, who are in the development team.

Software testing lifecycle also has various stages. The strategies for testing are planned and drafted. This is done on the basis of a discussion done by experts. There are various methods followed in the software testing lifecycle. The popular methods used in software testing are the white box method and the black box method. The software testers who are involved in the black box testing need not have any expertise in the software field. It involves a set of sample input and the desired results. This list is given to the software tester and he has to input different values for the same field and test whether it is working perfectly with all kinds of input and whether they are getting the expected results. Any deviations will be noted and a report based on the exceptional input values and the obtained results are given to the development team. Based on this, the project manager will decide on the corrective measures and this will be implemented in the further development of the project.

Another important method in software testing lifecycle is the white box testing which involves a level of transparency in the coding. The tester should have a minimum knowledge of the coding, structures and databases to make the necessary changes wherever it is required. On the contrary, the black box testing does not involve any changes in the coding and hence does not require any expertise in software field.

Software testing is evolving as a separate career stream. Those who do not have a technical engineering qualification but have an interest to succeed in the software field can choose software testing as their career.

To start with software testing lifecycle, a strategy and plan to the testing will be drafted. A team of software testers will be involved; they will divide the tasks for software testing among them and test the software by giving various kinds of inputs and tests to see whether the required result is obtained or not. This is submitted as a report to the development team. Software testing lifecycle does not only involve the testing of errors and bugs; other aspects like duration, efficiency, database storage are also tested for smooth functioning of the software.