Why Software Developers should Understand Testing Principles?

The software development landscape is fast developing, and the most important detail of the software development cycle is software testing. Software development happens in phases, and the software testing process plays a huge role in the success of software applications. Software development has been rising in trend as people depend on applications for their personal and professional work.

Software testing is a process that ensures that the software product meets the required expectations from the client, and software development companies are focusing on software testing algorithms and test cases. Software testers are important professionals who work with software development teams to improve the standards of software applications so that the new digital products meet industry standards and satisfy user demands.

All the components of the software application are run through manual and automated test cases to determine vulnerabilities and minimize them so that the application can run smoothly with multiple devices. The goal of software testing and improvement is to find gaps, errors, and bugs in the software application and reduce them so that the application performance is improved well beyond its present limitations.

In QA testing services, software testers test different applications and their components for any kind of limitation and error. There are different types of tests that are run on the software application components. While software testing can be a vast area of the IT sector, software testers can also be software developers. Software developers handle various tasks such as designing, verifying and coding the software.

Software developers coordinate with testing professionals to determine the components that need improvement and modifications. A final digital product is created with the cooperation of software testers and software developers. In the workspace of QA testing services, software developers play a crucial role in creating a high-performance software application as a product.

What is Software Testing?

In simple words, software testing can be defined as the process by which professionals determine if a particular software application does what it is expected to do and how to improve its capability to maximize its capability. Software testing is a simultaneous process that runs parallel to software development.

When software development and testing go hand in hand, a software development company is successful in floating the best quality applications in the current IT landscape. Testing has been important since the 1950s and continues to evolve into different types and capabilities with time. Today, software testing has become automated, and there are multiple types of tests designed to examine different components of complex software applications.

It is best to choose a continuous testing approach to the software development arena so that minor and major errors can be screened easily. Continuous testing is beneficial in minimizing errors and problems in the software early in the cycle, which ultimately increases the efficiency of the final software product.

Benefits of Understanding Testing Principles

There are many benefits of software testing that software developers and testers know about. In a highly competitive landscape like today’s software development industry, software testing has many benefits for professionals and users.

1. Improved Code Quality

• Catching Bugs Early – Continuous testing and regular testing methods help in screening for errors and bugs early in the development cycle. This, in turn, helps the developer know about the vulnerabilities and minimize them ahead of time so that these errors do not blow up to affect performance majorly.
  
  Catching bugs early ensures that the final product is highly efficient in performance. An understanding of new testing principles can help developers and testers opt for the best approach to debugging and improving the code so that it can be deployed without any later issues.

• Writing Testable Code – The code quality of the application is improved by software testing cycles so that the code can be tested easily and pass through test cycles very fast. The code is very consistent and accurate, so it passes through each test cycle and can be deployed faster with higher code integrity.
  
  Testing principles and the methods of testing help developers as much as they help testers. If a software developer has a good understanding of the testing principles, he can create code that will easily pass through multiple testing cycles without any major issues. This makes work easier for the developer and the tester professionals.

2. Efficient Debugging

• Faster Issue Resolution – Regular and continuous testing can help in faster issue resolution and easier debugging. Screening of performance and syntax issues can happen at a faster rate when efficient testing tools and test cases are employed. The faster the issues are detected and dealt with, the better productivity arises from the final code blocks. When a tester is clear about the testing principles and methods, he can screen bugs easily and debug the code to resolve any latent issues efficiently.

• Reducing Technical Debt – Continuous and efficient testing can reduce the technical debt that testers and developers face, increasing the productivity of the team. If testing is ignored or seen as an afterthought of the development phase, the developers and testers have to deal with the whole application and start working on the code files from the beginning. This can create a huge amount of workload that might not get resolved even after the initial phase of deployment.
  
  Efficient and automated testing creates high-performance code and quickens the improvement process so that developers do not have any pending work. When the team has a good understanding of the testing principles, the issues can be easily resolved, and there is no technical debt to be tackled by the development team.

3. Enhanced Collaboration

• Effective Communication with Testers – When efficient and automated testing cycles are introduced, there is better scope for communication and coordination between developers and testers. If a testing team has been in the loop from the beginning of the project, streamlined communication and feedback channels are possible, which can improve internal workflow and the final product of the software development cycle.
  
  Collaboration between testers and developers is possible when developers and testers are clear about their roles and are part of the project. The team has to realize the importance of adherence to testing principles and testing capabilities to encourage a transparent, collaborative environment.

• Working in Cross-Functional Teams – When testing principles are known and applied in the workspace, the workflow and feedback channels are improved so that multiple teams of designers, developers, and testers can work together on one project. In a large-scale project where multiple teams collaborate, the professionals need to have knowledge and understanding of multiple work areas so that work can be done productively and respectfully. Cross-functional teams can handle their work and responsibilities better if testing and development principles merge in perfect symmetry.

Common Testing Principles Developers Should Grasp

1. Unit Testing

• What Are Unit Tests? – Unit testing in a software application focuses on verifying the functionality of its individual parts. Each unit and code block of the software application works together to create the whole system. Unit tests are run to check if all the units are working as intended and create a coherent app together.
  
  Unit testing is done before all the units are integrated together to create the final application structure. Therefore, Unit testing is done early in the development cycle so that the minor issues are screened and detected. Unit tests are usually automated and are done regularly with each change that happens to the codebase. Regular unit testing ensures that the new changes do not break the integrity of the existing codebase.

• Writing Unit Tests – When writing unit tests, the team has to look at the objective of unit testing. The tester needs to isolate a code block and then test for every function and procedure linked with the code. The tester additionally composes tests to confirm the correctness of the written code. The unit tester also needs to test the reusability level of the code blocks.

2. Integration Testing

• Defining Integration Tests – Integration testing is the subsequent phase in the testing cycle, conducted after unit tests have been completed. Once the units are tested, the units are then tested in groups so that they can be integrated properly into the software architecture. Integration testing is done to show the errors and limitations that might arise when the groups of units interact with each other. These errors are minimized before the final integration of the code units is done to create a complete application. The software is divided into different modules, and integration testing checks for interaction gaps between the modules that might lead to performance issues.

• Incorporating Integration Tests into Development – Integration testing needs to be integrated into development so that the software architecture is maintained properly. The integration tests need to be run at each step of software code integration so that the development cycles and improvements can happen smoothly.

3. Test Automation

• The Power of Automation – Test automation is a recent trend that has quickened the pace of testing and gives great results in the testing algorithm. Automated testing is a required improvement in testing cycles so that the productivity of the team is increased. Automated tests are highly accurate and customized according to the project requirements. Automation testing services save time and money for the development company and also optimize the testing workforce. When the deployment timeline is short and deadlines are imminent, test automation is very crucial in the software development cycle.

• Tools and Frameworks for Test Automation – There are many automated tools and frameworks that help in testing different applications and code blocks. Different software development teams prefer different test automation frameworks. Test automation frameworks are automated tools that help in building test cases for specific testing cycles.
  
  Test automation frameworks are highly efficient and adhere to testing principles and standards. Examples of good test automation frameworks are Selenium IDE, Cypress, TestCafe, WebDriver IO, etc. Test automation frameworks are a step ahead of manual testing and are designed to meet the high-pressure environment of the testing landscape.

4. Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)

• Streamlining the Development Pipeline – Continuous deployment is a process that integrates testing cycles with software development phases so that both processes work in coordination to create a streamlined development pipeline. The development pipeline needs to be streamlined so that all the processes work concurrently to create the final output efficiently.

• Ensuring Quality in CI/CD – In continuous deployment and streamlined development, quality can be ensured by creating proper feedback channels that integrate into the development pipeline. With continuous feedback exchange, the code can be improved continuously to create a highly efficient and powerful application in optimized time and resource availability. The integration of unit testing, integration testing, security testing, and other test cycles at strategic points in the development roadmap ensures that quality standards are easily met by the final version of the software application.

Software Testing Challenges and Misconceptions

There are many misconceptions and challenges that exist in the software testing landscape. Although software testing is essential for the software development sector, many professionals do not understand testing principles. There is a common misconception that software testers deconstruct the codebase and dissect it. In truth, there are no destructive actions that testers take on the software codebase.

The feedback given by software testers is used to create a better software application for the market. Many professionals think that software testers lack the skill level of a developer. However, a developer can take a leap by being part of the QA testing team. Software testers have knowledge and skills in development, which helps them understand the occurrence of errors in the software application.

There are many challenges that software testers have to overcome to create better applications for deployment. For example, if there is a lack of communication and strong feedback channels between the various teams, testing does not produce good results. Testers have to communicate with other stakeholders of the project in order to do adequate testing and suggest improvements in the digital product.

Solid Code Meets Sound Testing: A Developer’s Guideline

By embracing testing principles and current testing standards, a software development company can also be a good software testing company. Understanding testing principles is beneficial for both developers and testers as they can create better software applications and improve their skills from experience.

Venturing into Quality Assurance and software testing is a leap in skills, experience, and career prospects, as software testers are highly rewarded for their work. There is a great demand for software testing services in different software development companies. If you want to develop a software application and do not have a software testing team in-house, you can outsource to a dedicated software testing company.