Gray box testing

Gray box testing sometimes called as Grey box testing. It is a combination of black box and white box testing features. In Gray box testing technique testing is carried out with a limited knowledge of the internal workings of an application. Testers have access to design documents and the database with this knowledge; testers can prepare better test data and test scenarios while preparing a test plan.

Below image illustrates the key differences between Black box, White box and Gray box testing techniques.

    Black box testing                    White box testing             Grey box Testing

Advantages:

• Testing is done from users point of view
• No need to depend up on source code

Disadvantages:

• Test coverage is limited
• Limited access to source code

White box testing

White box testing is also called glass box testing or open-box testing or transparent testing or clear box testing or code based testing. White box testing is applicable to Unit, Integration and System level testing.

White box testing mainly focuses on structural part of the source code. It is always performed by the developer or programmers or white box testers. To perform white box testing testers should have strong knowledge of programming languages, implementation knowledge.

In the current software industry, the new concept such as Agile models, DevOps provide the platform for testers to enhance their skills.

                White box Testing

Advantages:

• Find bugs early in software development life cycle
• Verify the broken or incomplete paths in the code
• Verify code line by line
• Helps in optimizing the source code
• Maximum coverage is achieved

Disadvantages:

• Highly skilled resources are required having thorough knowledge of programming languages
• Requires specialized tools
• Script maintenance challenges if changes are too frequent

Black box testing

Black box testing also called behavioral testing or input/output driven testing or closed box testing technique. Black box testing focuses on the functional requirements of the software. Black box testing is not an alternative to white box testing. Rather, it is a complementary approach with the intention of uncovering a different class of error than white box testing. Testers concentrate on what the software does; not how does it. It is performed by testers.

Black box testing helps to find errors in following categories:

• Incorrect functions
• Errors in data base
• Missing functions
• Interface errors

         Black box testing

Black box testing occurs throughout the software development and software testing life cycle.

Advantages:

• Source code knowledge and access is not required
• Test cases can be designed immediately after functional specifications are complete
• Testers can test the application having no knowledge programming language

Disadvantages:

• Insufficient testing
• Writing test cases is difficult

Top 3 differences between Retesting and Regression testing

Difference between Retesting and Regression testing seems to be confusing term or concept from most of the testers perspective. 

Retesting:

It is a type of testing in which an already tested functionality is tested again to ensure that defect is  reproducible or not . It is usually  performed when the defect is fixed and ready for retest with testing team.If tester is able to reproduce the defect then tester change the defect status from Ready for retest to Re-Open. If tester is not able to reproduce the defect then tester changes the defect status from Ready for retest to Closed with appropriate comments.

                            Retesting

Regression Testing:

It is a type of testing in which an existing tested functionality is tested once again, in order to check if the functionality is the bug free and to check if existing functionality is not affected whenever new change is added or defect is fixed.

In simple terms it is testing to check the cross impact of defect fix.

At the time of execution if tester comes across any defect, the tester reports it to the development team and when development team has fixed the defect tester needs to perform the testing on fixed defect. While the defect fix developer might have changed the other functionality. To ensure these changes does not affect other functionality regression testing is done.

Retesting and Regression Testing

Software Testing basics

Software Testing basics

To learn Software testing, you should understand the few basic concepts first.

Software:

Group of statements, set of logic and related data which instruct system to perform set of actions or operations.

Testing:

Verification and Validation to ensure to deliver a defect free application or product to customer.

Software testing:

Performing testing on software application or software product with respect to client requirements with the intent of finding the software bugs is called Software testing.

User/Tester can perform software testing in two different ways.

Manual testing:

Performing testing on software application or product with human interaction is called manual testing. Test cases are executed without any tool support.

Automation testing:

Performing testing on software application or product with the help of some tool is called automation testing. Tool support is taken to execute the test cases.

E.g. Test Complete, Selenium, RFT, QTP