This document provides an overview of different types of software testing and when testing should begin and end. It describes various types of testing including functional, system, end-to-end, sanity, regression, acceptance, load, install/uninstall, recovery, compatibility, exploratory, performance, usability, security, alpha and beta testing. It notes that testing is best started early in the development process and continues through deployment, and that there are no set criteria for when to stop testing, as testing is an ongoing process, but management decisions and bug rates can help determine when to end a testing cycle.

1. Quality Assurance /
Software Testing Training
Types of Testing

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Agenda
• Types of Testing
• Start and Stop of Testing

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Various Types of Testing
Functional testing
• Black box type testing geared to functional requirements of an
application.
• Done by testers.
System testing
• Black box type testing that is based on overall requirements
specifications; covering all combined parts of the system.
End-to-end testing
• Similar to system testing; involves testing of a complete application
environment in a situation that mimics real-world use.
Sanity testing
• Initial effort to determine if a new software version is performing well
enough to accept it for a major testing effort
Regression testing
• Re-testing after fixes or modifications of the software or its
environment

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Acceptance testing
• Final testing based on specifications of the end-user or customer
Load testing
• Testing an application under heavy loads.
• Eg. Testing of a web site under a range of loads to determine, when the
system response time degraded or fails.
Install/uninstall testing
• Testing of full,partial or upgrade install/uninstall process.
Recovery testing
• Testing how well a system recovers from crashes, HW failures or other
problems.
Compatibility testing
• Testing how well software performs in a particular HW/SW/OS/NW
environment
Exploratory testing / ad-hoc testing
• Informal SW test that is not based on formal test plans or test cases;
testers will be learning the SW in totality as they test it.

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Performance testing
Term often used interchangeably with ‘stress’ and ‘load’ testing. To check
whether system meets performance requirements. Used different
performance and load tools to do this.
Usability testing
User-friendliness check. Application flow is tested, Can new user understand
the application easily, Proper help documented whenever user stuck at any
point. Basically system navigation is checked in this testing .
Security testing
Can system be penetrated by any hacking way. Testing how well the system
protects against unauthorized internal or external access. Checked if system,
database is safe from external attacks.
Alpha testing
Testing done when development is nearing completion; minor design
changes may still be made as a result of such testing.
Beta-testing
Testing when development and testing are essentially completed and final
bugs and problems need to be found before release.

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Start and Stop of Testing
• When to Start Testing?
• An early start to testing reduces the cost, time to rework and error free
software that is delivered to the client. However in Software Development
Life Cycle (SDLC) testing can be started from the Requirements Gathering
phase and lasts till the deployment of the software.
• For example in Water fall model formal testing is conducted in the Testing
phase, but in incremental model, testing is performed at the end of every
increment/iteration and at the end the whole application is tested.
• When to Stop Testing?
• Unlike when to start testing it is difficult to determine when to stop testing,
as testing is a never ending process and no one can say that any software is
100% tested.
• Following are the aspects which should be considered to stop the testing:
• Testing Deadlines.
• Completion of test case execution.
• Completion of Functional and code coverage to a certain point.
• Bug rate falls below a certain level and no high priority bugs are
identified.
• Management decision.

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