Software Testing is the process to check whether the actual software product matches the expected product and making sure that it is defect-free. This process is carried out in the entire SDLC phase. It is the process of checking, verifying, and validating the requirements of the product and identifying the gaps in the product. The main motive of testing is to make the product error-free.
In earlier days, testing was done manually by the testers, but in today’s world of modern era and technology, everyone wants their life to be easier. With this though, automation testing came into the picture and life became easier.
What Advantages Testing has in SDLC?
Testing is a crucial phase of SDLC. A few of the advantages of testing SDLC are listed below:
- Brings In Customer Confidence and Satisfaction:-
If the software is just developed and is directly sold to the customers without ensuring the quality and the functionality of the software, then it will be a matter of high risk. If the product fails in front of the customers then chances are clients are not willing to forgive that, since they paid for you for the smooth functioning of the software.
By investing in quality assurance(testing), you are giving a thumbs up to yourself as well as the customers that their experience matters to you. - Cost-Effective:-
Software Testing helps you to save money. Testing a project helps you save money for the long run. Catching the problem once the software is go-live is no less than a nightmare. So, you’re not only losing the money on fixing the software but also losing through potential transactions. Earlier the bugs are caught in the software development lifecycle easier it will be for you to fix it. Financially, it costs you less.
- Quality Of the Product:-
To successfully hand over the product to the customer, your software should be up and running. It should be bug-free, low-risk, and highly effective. It won’t be confirmed that your product is good until you test it. It is a kind of go-live(trial) without actually the clients having to use it. Testing ensures that you are delivering the best possible version of your product that will hit the market. It is a major requirement of any software product.
- Improves Security:-
Software failures and data leakages can create havoc. It leads to enormous losses. With software testing, you can deliver a safe and secure product to your customers. It helps in protecting critical information, helps you gain the trust of customers. It is the most valuable benefit of software testing. It removes high risks and issues at the earlier stages of software development.
What are the Methods Involved In Software Testing?
Software testing can be done in two ways:
- Intelligent Human Testing:- It is the process of testing the software with intelligence within a limited frame of time manually.
- Automated Software Testing:- It is the process of testing the software by writing the scripts of test cases and using automation testing tools.
Intelligent Human Testing vs. Automated Software Testing
There are some major differences between intelligent human testing and automated software testing. In intelligent human testing, a tester tests the AUT(application under test) manually and performs the test step by step. While, in automation testing, testers write the automation scripts, and the tests are executed automatically with the help of those scripts without any manual intervention.
What is Intelligent Human Testing?
It is a type of testing in which tests are executed manually one by one in an individual manner. The main motive of this type of testing is to catch bugs and make the software bug-free. It checks all the essential functionalities of the software. After the execution of the tests, a tester has to generate the reports of test execution manually. It is a kind of classical method of finding defects in the system.
What is Automated Software Testing?
It is a type of testing in which the testers write the automation scripts/code to test the software. The automation tester uses the appropriate automation tools to develop the scripts and execute them. It is quite handy when it comes to automation testing and makes your work all the easier. It purely depends on the pre-written scripts which execute automatically to compare the actual and expected results. All the steps are done via automation except for the creation of test scripts which are done manually. Automation testing makes the work of testers easier by reducing repetitive work.
Key Difference between Intelligent Human Testing and Automation Testing:-
The key differences between Intelligent Human Testing and Automation Testing are as follow:-
- Intelligent Human Testing can be done without prior programming knowledge, whereas for automation testing one must have prior programming knowledge.
- Intelligent Human testing is a very tedious and time-consuming process whereas automation testing is a quick process.
- Intelligent Human is more prone to human errors than automation testing since it is script-based.
How Is Intelligent Human Testing Done?
Intelligent human testing is the testing that is done by understanding the end-to-end functionality of the product. After this, a test template is designed that covers all the testing phases and scenarios. Then, finally, the tester executes the test cases one by one manually. It is a very hands-on exercise. QA testers need to be highly involved in everything from creating the test cases to test case execution.
How Is Automated Software Testing Done?
Automated Software testing involves the testers writing the scripts for automation test execution. To write the developed scripts and to validate the software, testers use appropriate automation tools that are available in the market.
Why Choose Automated Software Testing Over Intelligent Human Testing?
Automation Testing has certain advantages over Intelligent Human Testing and they are listed below:
- Less Test Execution Time:- The biggest advantage of automation testing is that it helps you to test the software in very little time. Accuracy and productivity increase how much you can test.
- More Coverage Of Test Scenarios:- Since the scripts are pre-written then it is easily feasible for you to cover more test scenarios than you can cover in intelligent human testing.
Why Choose Intelligent Human Testing Over Automation Testing?
Intelligent Human Testing has certain advantages over Automated Software Testing and they are listed below:
- Complex Test Scenarios:- The biggest advantage of intelligent human testing is that it is more focused and testers can easily handle more complex scenarios.
- Rare Test Case Scenarios:- When it comes to testing rare test scenarios then you should go for manual testing as it won’t be feasible to automate such scenarios.
Let’s quickly have a look at the table of differences between Automated Software Testing and Intelligent Human Testing
| Criteria | Automated Software Testing | Intelligent Human Testing |
| Implementation | Achieved automatically with the use of scripts and tools. |
Achieved manually by QA Testers. |
| Execution Time | It is faster than Intelligent Human testing. |
It is more time-consuming than intelligent human testing and requires more resources. |
Efficiency |
It is more efficient. |
It is less efficient. |
Setup |
It requires a less complex execution setup. | Intelligent Human testing has an elementary test execution setup. |
Coverage |
In automation testing, it is difficult to ensure test coverage. |
In Intelligent Human testing, it is easier to ensure test coverage. |
Experimental Testing |
It does not allow random(exploratory) testing. |
It allows random(exploratory) testing. |
Sureness |
Automation testing is a reliable method since it is performed by tools and scripts. Therefore, it is less prone to human errors. |
Intelligent Human testing is entirely done manually by the testers. Therefore, it is more prone to human errors. |
Tasks |
All the tasks can be automated. | Purely manual tasks. |
User Interface Change |
A small change in UI can bring about the change in Automation scripts to match the expected output. |
A small change in UI wouldn’t hamper the execution of manual testing. |
| Investment | Investment is done on the automation tools and the engineers. |
Mostly the investment is done on human resources. |
Structure |
In Automation testing, frameworks such as Behaviour driven, Data-driven, and Keyword driven are used. |
In Intelligent Human testing, no frameworks are there as such but we have guidelines, checklists, etc. |
Strengths and Weaknesses Of Automated Software Testing:-
Strengths of Automated Software Testing:-
Automated Software Testing has various advantages:
- It is more reliable since it is less prone to human errors.
- It reduces the chances of repetitive work which can ultimately lead to fatigue of the testers.
- Automation testing allows us to reuse the same kind of testing operations.
- Accuracy can be maintained with the help of Automation testing.
- Automation testing helps in increasing test coverage, as the tool never misses to test even the smallest unit.
Weaknesses of Automated Software Testing:-
There are certain drawbacks of Automated Software Testing
- Automation testing requires the selection of testing tools before actually starting the execution, which is again a tedious process since automation tools are still not full proof.
- It can increase the cost of testing the project since tools used to run automation testing are quite expensive.
- Automation testing requires a lot of debugging which is again a major issue.
Strengths of Intelligent Human Testing:-
Intelligent Human has the below-listed strengths:
- It can give you visual feedback on the fly.
- It is less expensive as compared to Automation testing.
Weaknesses of Intelligent Human Testing:-
There are a few limitations of Intelligent Human Testing which are as follows:
- Intelligent Human testing is more prone to human errors. Therefore, it is less reliable than automation testing.
- It is very difficult to reuse intelligent human tests since they cannot be recorded.
There are certain operations that cannot be tested efficiently while using Automated Software Testing and Intelligent Human Testing. For such executions, cloud-based testing comes to the rescue which can make testing much easier.
What Is Cloud-Based Testing?
Cloud-Based testing is an approach for QA that uses cloud-based tools to emulate real-world user traffic environments for testing any type of application, infrastructure, and network. It assesses the performance, security, scalability, and reliability of Web applications on a QA tester’s cloud computing environment.
Advantages Of Cloud-Based Testing
- Cost-Efficient:- In cloud computing, you pay only for the resources you use. There’s no need to incur the cost of maintaining, upgrading the expensive equipment. You can have all the hardware and equipment at your disposal when you have use of it.
- Scalable:- It allows testers to increase or decrease computing resources fast. Some cloud services have options to choose licenses on a month-to-month basis.
- Coverage Across All Platforms, Browsers, and Devices:- Cloud-based testing is comprehensive. It provides support across all platforms, browsers, and devices.
- Parallel Execution:- Parallel Execution of the same tests across browsers/devices can be achieved. Cloud providers have flexible plans for the number of parallel threads to choose from.
Cloud-Based Testing plays a prominent role in the Software Testing industry. There are various Cloud-Based tools and platforms available in the market to choose from. One such hot platform that you can use for cloud-based testing is Lambda Test.
Cloud-Based Testing Platform: Lambda Test
Lambda Test is a trending cloud-based cross-browser testing platform that allows you to perform live and automated browser testing for web applications across more than 3000 browsers, devices, and operating systems. It allows you to run Selenium IDE tests on a cloud-based Selenium Grid and also offers Cypress e2e testing across 40+ browser versions on the cloud. Both intelligent human testing and automation testing can be done using this platform.
Wrapping Up
Intelligent Human testing is more suitable when test execution is done on a fly, and test cases are run either once or twice. Hence, there is very little repetition of test cases. While automation testing is majorly done to run regression test cases which are executed repeatedly for a longer period.
Cloud-Based testing is the need of the hour since it helps in emulating real-time user traffic and helps in testing more effectively. If you want to get your hands on cloud-based testing then Lambda Test should be your choice, since it is a cloud-based cross-browser testing platform and it will solve your problem.
