Automated testing has been hailed as the savior of modern software development, changing how engineers build and debug their projects. It’s also seen as the key to reducing costs for companies by reducing manual testing time.
But what exactly is automated testing? Simply put, it’s a method of running pre-scripted tests that are designed to execute quickly. This allows testers to run thousands of simulations in a short period for a relatively low cost.
The end goal is finding bugs before releasing an update (or product) into the wild. The crucial thing to remember is that automation doesn’t replace human testers; instead, it removes the mundane aspects of their job to focus on creative thought and more complicated tasks like problem-solving.
Automated testing allows developers to create code as quickly and efficiently as possible. Still, this approach can lead to problems down the line regarding writing tests and debugging. However, automated testing process outweighs the manual one by a lot of advantages such as its ability to detect bugs, reduction of the overall cost of testing and maintenance and saving the time needed for testing.
Here is a list of the advantages and disadvantages of automated testing
Advantages of Automated Testing
1. Automated testing is easy to do and inexpensive.
2. Automated testing has the ability to detect bugs that are hard to find with human testers.
3. It allows developers to focus on development instead of mundane tasks like test running and bug fixing.
4. It helps companies to reduce the overall cost of testing and maintenance.
5. It can greatly reduce the time needed for testing; it’s mainly dependent on human testers ability to analyze code thoroughly and find all of the potential bugs.
Disadvantages of Automated Testin
1. Automated testing can fail at critical points where a bug cannot be found because no one is working on the project when it fails. This has become more common with modern-day projects that several people are working on at once. Thus, the failure of a test can have an unexpected impact on the end product if it occurs when testers aren’t available to fix it or if they take too long to fix it because fixes must be done that day, etc.
2. If a bug is missed when testing, it’s very difficult to find since the testers aren’t actively looking for it, and there’s no script available to run to detect it.
3. Automated testing can be affected by human error, causing many problems like false positives or false negatives (e.g., if an error occurs in a test but not in the code or vice versa).
Some ways by which the automated testing process has transformed the world of software development include:
Reduces time and cost
The automated test ensures that different people don’t repeat the same bugs, and it also doesn’t forget to check for problems that may have been introduced in new releases. With automation, testers can run through tons of simulations in a short period. It also frees up the capitals that can be used to pay real QA engineers who are better at problem-solving.
Automate deployment
When setting up a new application environment (development, staging, or even production), it’s essential to set up everything correctly the first time. Automated deployments ensure compliance with internal procedures (change management and QA standards) and prevent human error from occurring during this crucial process.
Automate performance
When launching a new application, it’s vital to ensure that it runs smoothly and efficiently. With automated testing, engineers can run through tests in various environments, ensuring that the application will work across different platforms and devices.
Automate regression
Once an application has been released to the market, engineers need to ensure that no new bugs have been introduced while working on the latest version. Automated regression testing makes sure that nothing has changed beyond what was expected when moving from one release to another.
Automate ad-hoc testing
It doesn’t really matter how you competently plan out your releases, bugs will constantly be introduced when working with real-world data. Automated ad-hoc testing allows your team to run through many different simulations of how a user might utilize your application and catch any problems before they’re released.
Automate integration
Another major hurdle is ensuring that the applications you’re testing work well with those that other departments in the company are utilizing. Manual integration testing can be extremely time-consuming, but automated tests can ensure that everything is used correctly.
Automate performance and load
There’s also an added benefit to automated performance testing: it enables your team to test more scenarios without having to get into the server room or set up a complicated environment for real-world data. This increases the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of this essential process.
Automate security
With modern browsers like Internet Explorer and Chrome, it’s easy to open any webpage and have it function properly. With automated security testing, security professionals can work on a number of extremely complicated simulations but still appear as normal web pages. It also allows them to look for potential exploits in other programs that would be difficult or impossible to simulate.
Automate release
Finally, automation allows testers to automate their tests, enabling them to quickly set up a new environment or move your application behind a firewall.
Automated testing helps you reduce costs and improves the quality of your software drastically by making sure your application works properly in all kinds of environments.
Final Words
Automation has transformed the world of software development, removing the mundane aspects of QA while reducing the time and cost required for developers. From the change management process to testing standards, automation has truly become a game-changer.
Automated testing has also transformed the world of software development. Developers have become more productive, and engineers have focused on creative thought and more complicated tasks such as problem-solving.