by: Walker Wild
Why is software testing so critical? The answer is simple. Software bugs
and errors are so widespread and so detrimental that they cost the US
economy an estimated 0.6 percent of the gross domestic product. This
amount approximately translates into a whopping $100 billion annually.
Of this amount, half the costs are borne by the users and the other half
by the software developers and software vendors. We must remember that
nearly every business and industry in the United States depends on
development, marketing, and after-sales support of software services and
products. A study conducted by the Department of Commerce's National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has assessed that more than
a third of the costs can be eliminated by improved software
investigating infrastructure consisting of a paraphernalia of testing
tools for load testing, stress testing, and performance testing.
Many are not aware what software testing is all about. Countless people
believe testing of software is high-tech jargon beyond easy
comprehension. This perception unfortunately is a myth. In this
electronic era, we need not be experts to be familiar with the basic
concepts of software investigation. Understanding of the key features
and advantages of software investigation helps a wide cross section of
professionals and businesspersons in their day-to-day business. Here are
answers to some basic question on software analysis.
What Is Software Testing?
In a nutshell, software testing is a process to recognize the accuracy,
comprehensiveness, security, and quality of the developed software. In
fact, it is a technical investigation intended to assess the
quality-related information of the product for which it is planned to be
used.
Different Web Testing Applications and Their Functions
The checklist of web testing applications is broad constituting many items. Here we shall deal with a few of them.
* Performance testing: A web application should sustain heavy workload,
especially during peak times when many users access the same page
simultaneously. In addition, the site must be able to handle input data
from a large number of users simultaneously. A performance test also
includes stress testing where the system is tested beyond its
specification limits.
* Security testing: Security testing is done by various methods. One of
the methods is by pasting internal URL directly in the browser address
bar without logging in to ensure that the page does not open.
Additionally, the product should use SSL for security measures. Web
directories and files should not be accessible without the download
option.
Most importantly, all error messages, login attempts, including security
breach attempts, must get registered somewhere on web server.
What Is The Road Map To Higher Quality Software?
Software testing is a continually evolving process. Software
investigating and evaluating companies are consistently striving to
identify and remove software bugs. If all software bugs could be
identified and removed in real time, the benefits to industry and
business are huge and unquantifiable. Plenty of inadequacies are still
plaguing the software market. Standardized testing tools must ensure a
rigorous testing certification process. The road map to higher quality
software is undoubtedly improved and foolproof software testing.
