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As a software developer, I understand the importance of software testing. For every software development project, it is essential to ensure that the final product is of high quality and meets the requirements of the end-users. In this ultimate guide, I will take you through the different types of software testing in software engineering, their importance, and best practices to follow. Image Source: FreePik Introduction to Software Testing Software testing is the process of evaluating a software application with the intention of identifying any defects or bugs. It involves running the software to check if it meets the specified requirements, satisfies the end-user needs, and is reliable, efficient, and maintainable. There are various reasons why software testing is necessary. Here is why: Types of Testing in Software Engineering There are numerous types of software testing in software engineering. These types can be categorized based on the testing approach, the level of testing, and the purpose of testing. In this section, I will discuss the most common types of testing in software engineering. Functional Testing Functional testing is a type of testing that checks whether the software application meets the specified functional requirements. It involves testing the software against the functional specifications to ensure that all the features of the application work as intended. This type of testing is usually performed manually and can be automated using various tools. Non-Functional Testing Non-functional testing is a type of testing that checks the non-functional aspects of the software application, such as performance, usability, reliability, and security. It involves testing the software against the non-functional requirements to ensure that the software is efficient, reliable, and secure. This type of testing is usually performed manually and can be automated using various tools. Structural Testing Structural testing is a type of testing that checks the structure of the software application, such as code coverage and control flow. It involves testing the software to ensure that all the code paths are executed and all the conditions are tested. This type of testing is usually performed using automated tools. Regression Testing Regression testing is a type of testing that checks whether the software application still works as intended after changes have been made to the software. It involves testing the software to ensure that the existing functionality is not affected by the changes made. This type of testing is usually performed manually and can be automated using various tools. Performance Testing Performance testing is a type of testing that checks the performance of the software application under various conditions. It involves testing the software to ensure that it can handle a large number of users, transactions, and data. This type of testing is usually performed using automated tools. Usability Testing Usability testing is a type of testing that checks the usability of the software application. It involves testing the software to ensure that it is easy to use, learn, and navigate. This type of testing is usually performed manually and can be automated using various tools. Security Testing Security testing is a type of testing that checks the security of the software application. It involves testing the software to ensure that it is secure against various types of attacks, such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting. This type of testing is usually performed using automated tools. Acceptance Testing Acceptance testing is a type of testing that checks whether the software application meets the acceptance criteria of the end-user. It involves testing the software against the user requirements to ensure that the software meets the requirements of the end-user. This type of testing is usually performed manually. Exploratory Testing Exploratory testing is a type of testing that involves exploring the software application to identify defects and bugs. It involves testing the software without any predefined test cases to ensure that all the features of the application work as intended. This type of testing is usually performed manually. Automated Testing Automated testing is the process of using software tools to perform software testing. It involves creating test scripts that simulate user actions and testing the software against these scripts. Automated testing is faster and more efficient than manual testing and can be used to test large and complex software applications. There are various types of automated testing, such as unit testing, integration testing, and system testing. Unit testing involves testing individual components of the software application, such as functions and methods.  Integration testing involves testing how the individual components of the software application work together. System testing involves testing the software application as a whole. Common Software Testing Tools There are various software testing tools that can be used to automate software testing. These tools make the testing process faster, more efficient, and more accurate. Some of the most common software testing tools include: Selenium Selenium is an open-source software testing tool that is used to automate web applications. It supports various programming languages, such as Java, Python, and Ruby, and can be used to test web applications on various browsers. JUnit JUnit is an open-source software testing tool that is used to automate unit testing in Java. It provides a framework for writing test cases and running them against the software application. TestNG TestNG is an open-source software testing tool that is used to automate unit testing in Java. It provides advanced features, such as test configuration, grouping, and parallel testing. Cucumber Cucumber is an open-source software testing tool that is used to automate acceptance testing. It supports various programming languages, such as Java, Ruby, and Python, and can be used to test software applications against user requirements. LoadRunner LoadRunner is a commercial software testing tool that is used to automate performance testing. It can be used to simulate a large number of users and transactions and test the performance of the software application. Choosing the Right Type of Testing for Your Project Choosing the right type of testing for your project is essential to ensure that the software application meets the requirements of the end-user. There are

Introduction While developing any application whether it is a mobile app or a web app, various testing is required in between the development cycle. This ensures that the final product fulfills the purpose of development.   Web Application testing tools and software improve functionality, and reliability and increase the return on investment. Various web app testing tools assist in different testing purposes. In this article, we have listed twenty such testing tools that are very crucial for web app testing. Each tool is hyperlinked to its website for your ease of navigation. Also, some specific test tools are indicated in bold text. Top Twenty Web Application Testing Tools Astra Pentest provides comprehensive web application testing solutions. This uncovers multiple vulnerabilities with the help of its intelligent scanner. It also provides you with detailed & actionable steps to fix every single vulnerability. Developers can seamlessly collaborate with teams, CXOs, and Astra’s security experts through its dashboard. It can be easily integrated with platforms like Slack. Its continuous scanning, smarter vulnerability management, and scanning critical API always keep the threat in check when the app development cycle remains in progress. Acunetix is one of the prominent web applications that are fully automated. It scans, detects, and reports on over 7000+ web app vulnerabilities with blended DAST+ IAST scanning. This includes all variants of XSS, SQL injection, and exposed databases.   It supports advanced vulnerability management features into its core, prioritizing the potential risks through a single, consolidated view while integrating itself into other platforms. It helps developers by eliminating false positives which ultimately saves many hours of manual work.  Acunetix crawler supports auditing of complex applications like heavy sites built with HTML5 & JavaScript, single-page applications( SPAs), multi-level forms, and password-protected areas. LambdaTest is a cloud-based cross-browser testing platform designed for all web-based architecture. It provides secure, scalable, and insightful test orchestration for its customers at different points in their DevOps cycle. This platform ensures that your web app elements like JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, etc run smoothly across all devices with different screen resolutions. This includes manual, visual, and automated testing. You can perform live-interactive online browser compatibility testing on 3000+ different desktop and mobile browsers.  LambdaTest cloud features native developer tools to help in debugging. Dedicated WordPress plugins and Chrome extension helps developers to perform cross-browser testing. Additionally, with its GeoIP, developers can test the web app’s performance while accessing the app from various locations.  TestComplete is an automated testing tool that is used by developers to create and check functionality and debug desktops and mobile web applications which possess custom controls and Dynamic pages. It allows your Web UI crawler to scan all major available web browsers, and multiple platforms and send the report.  TestComplet’s object identification engine helps you to choose from over 50,000 object properties across more than 500 control types. Digivante is one of the premier Web Application testing platforms. They ensure excellent quality for retail and eCommerce with optimum coverage, speed, and quality. They back the client’s innovation and transformation and check all parameters.  Digivante’s testing abilities include functional, usability, regression, automation, team augmentation, agile & DevOps, Localization, Accessibility, End-to-end, post-release, performance payment, Systems, User acceptance, Live Monitoring, and more. Testpad is a simple and easily accessible manual web application testing tool. It uses checklist-inspired test plans which can be adapted to Exploratory testing, Agile, syntax-highlighted BDD & traditional case management. Easy invitation by email is helpful for guest testers– they can perform tests without having an account. It can add new tests during testing and can be integrated with other issue trackers.  Test IO ensures that your web applications work smoothly on every device by crowd-testing them in different browsers on real devices in real-world situations. The crowdtesting feature facilitates you to call upon the insights of multiple testing professionals to enhance the quality of your web apps. They have 9000+ dedicated EPAM testing experts and 400,000+ freelance testers around the world. Professionals from Test IO provide fresh and unbiased details on your products. Experitest’s Digital.ai continuous testing platform provides robust performing testing solutions for web applications. This supports the entire development and execution cycle of the web app.  Web Functional/ Regression Testing Tools Every day we encounter many websites and web applications that are diagnosed with a bug– sometimes on a particular device, sometimes on a whole level. This happens due to their improper functionality, bad architecture,  unusual behavior, usability, security, etc. Web Regression tools point out all the bugs in the Web apps in a shorter time span. Finding the bug, fixing it, drafting a bug sheet, and determining the priority and severity is a challenging tasks during the development phase. The majority of bugs are detected due to functional issues with the web application.  Selenium is one of the developer’s favorite Web Application testing too which is popular for performing automated testing suites. It is structured to support and encourage automated testing of functional aspects of web applications.  It is comprised of four basic components: Selenium IDE, Selenium RC, WebDriver, and Selenium Grid. Selenium IDE is an add-on for Firefox for record-and-playback web app tests. Selenium RC is a framework for testing that allows developers to design test scripts in multiple languages for the automation of front-end UI tests. It is an open-source navigation tool for different operating systems like Windows & Linux, and used for scripting& testing PhantomJS & SlimerJS with its valuable functions written in Javascript. Screenster is a cloud-based platform for Web UI testing. This is very much beneficial for web-based visual regression tests. It allows developers to identify UI elements without manual verifications. Since Screenster is cloud-based, it provides developers to collaborate on tests via a web interface.  In operation, it provides a screenshot of each successive step and compares them to the baseline, permitting verification of changes or lack of changes to UI.  Katalon provides a comprehensive web app test automation tool that enhances the capabilities of Selenium. It is included with many essential features, including Object Spy,

Introduction Web Services & API – both are essential elements of modern-day software development and web app architecture. A few terms overlap while using both & hence, are sometimes considered interchangeable. However, both are different in functioning. They are not just technical tools—they carry hidden strategic and architectural depth that’s often overlooked. For instance, many billion-dollar companies like Amazon and Stripe started by building internal APIs, which later evolved into monetizable platforms powering external ecosystems. This article would help you to distinguish the difference between a Web Service and an API by comparing the two and highlighting their disparities.   What is API? API stands for Application Programming Interface. It is software that provides a set of definitions and protocols for building and integrating application software. It allows the product or service to communicate with other products or services– resulting in enhanced functionality. An API consists of a standardized set of rules that determines the data that needs to be modified and fetched within the process.  These APIs basically enable smooth software integration among apps since they expose the application’s data that is used by developers. Data can be requested from closed-off applications in order to fetch data for another application.  What is a Web Service? It is a resource that provides functionality that is used by other applications. Also it is a software function provided at a network address (usually a URL) that can be accessed and invoked remotely by other programs. For example SSO, Logins, Database Storage, payment processing, and password management.  This protocol and standards are typically used to exchange data among applications and systems. These are characterized by their great interoperability and extensibility and machine-processable description because of XML.  It requires a network to interact, and this is communicated through SOAP. It encodes data in XML which is a markup language for information storage and transfer.  Key differences between API and Web Services  All web services examples are likely of APIs but vice versa is not the same. Web Services supports XML while APIs are formatted using Web API’s MediaTypeFormatter into XML. To use Web Services, a SOAP protocol is needed to send or receive data over the network. While API has a lightweight architecture and hence no external protocol is necessary.  Web Services use REST, SOAP, and XML-RPC for communication while APIs can use any style of communication. Advantages of API Services API provides support to CRUD actions as well as works with HTTP verbs GET, PUT, POST, and DELETE.  It is based on HTTP and hence exposes in REST.  Advantages of Web Services It offers faster communication within and across organizations.  It solves interoperability issues by giving the different applications a way to link their data. It allows applications to communicate, exchange data, and shared services among themselves.  It is designed to be used as web pages to request and receive data.  Cons of API  Creating API is a complex and time taking process. Imprecise boundary description High Maintainance Cost API Crashing Issue while testing Cons of Web Services Inaccessible from Web Browser. Specialized Machine Requirements The unreliability of the HTTP protocol makes it less reliable in the delivery of responses. Being exposed over the internet, web services are vulnerable to attacks such as: Man-in-the-middle API abuse (e.g., rate limiting bypass) Injection attacks (e.g., XML injection) Conclusion Web Services & API– both are technologies that serve the purpose of data transfer between different applications and architecture. While API exposes application data to outside software, web applications are types of APIs with strict requirements. These definitions seem quite nuanced however it’s essential to comprehend the distinction between web technologies.

A Primer on the CI/CD Pipeline and How to Use It To Improve Your Business   The CI/CD pipeline programming is one of the processes used in software development to increase productivity. This system can make changes to the code and processes within software development without interruption. It has multiple benefits, such as increased reliability, efficiency, and improved security. But how does CI/CD pipeline programming work? What are some examples of it? What steps should you take to get started with it? What tools would you need? This article answers these questions and more by defining all of these aspects. What is CI/CD?  Have you ever wondered what CI/CD is? If so, I’m sure the answer is yes, for most of us. Automation is what we want to get out of our software development processes. Automation has become such a hot topic in recent years because of these keywords: repeatable, secure, and timely. CI/CD can help achieve them if used correctly. Continuous integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD) are the two major workflow patterns required by different software engineering process stages. These frameworks build upon each other, merging codes and validating builds.  Their primary objective is to ensure that all changes are fully validated before going live in production environments. This reduces your risk of introducing unexpected bugs into your application functionality and allows you to speed up development cycles. How does CI/CD allow developers to frequently build and test their code more easily? The CI/CD pipeline programming is a combination of two processes. The first process is called Continuous Integration (CI), which enables developers to work together in a collaborative environment. The second process is called Continuous Delivery (CD), which ensures that the code changes get automatically pushed to the infrastructure environments. CI/CD refers to a pipeline where you can submit new code on one end. And then, let it get tested through phases such as sourcing, building, staging, and production. Finally, release it as a ready-for-production code. Each stage in the CI/CD pipeline programming serves as a gate that verifies a specific code feature. The premise is that, as the code travels through the pipeline, the quality of the code improvises since developers will check more aspects of it. The CI/CD pipeline has been designed to help developers, testers, and other development team members work together to create high-quality software products. The CI/CD pipeline consists of the following steps: Build:  These are automatic steps that can be run regularly by an automated build tool. The build will examine the codebase, perform tests, and produce a codebase ready for release. Test:  These are manual actions performed by developers to ensure that their software is functioning as expected before it is released into production. Tests can be written in any programming language and should produce results that indicate whether or not the software works correctly. Deploy:  This is another crucial step in creating high-quality software products. Security testing ensures that any bugs within your codebase have been fixed before releasing it into production. Security testing includes external (e.g., penetration testing) and internal (e.g., vulnerability scanning) assessments of your application’s security posture. Perform:  Performance testing is an integral part of creating high-quality software products because it ensures that your application meets its performance goals while meeting other requirements such as security, reliability, availability, etc…  Top 5 Benefits of using CI/CD pipeline We’ve all been there: the software development team is working on a project that’s running late, and you know it will impact the rest of your business. But how do you get ahead of the curve when developing new features? CI/CD makes it easy. CI/CD stands for continuous integration and delivery, allowing you to build software faster than ever before. It also helps your company stay on top of its game by ensuring that software updates are delivered frequently and reliably. When to use continuous integration, you’ll have a more agile development process that allows your team to be more responsive to customer needs while also helping them improve their efficiency. The groundwork for creating a pipeline programming might take a long time and may need a high learning curve, but the advantages far outweigh the time, expense, and effort required. Let’s look at some of the top advantages of installing a CI/CD pipeline: 1. Higher efficiency This is the most prominent benefit of a CI/CD pipeline. Automating your process will increase your productivity by creating a streamlined development, testing, and production environment. 2. Increased accountability.  If you have a review process that includes deploying code to development, testing, and production environments and entering multiple commands across several domains, then it is vital to have a CI/CD framework in place. This will ensure that you are always accountable for the code written in your organization. 3. Improved security practices.  Code deployments can be performed at any time, which means they can be used to introduce new features into your system without waiting until they are ready for release onto production environments (i.e., letting users use them now). This has led to many organizations adopting secure coding practices because it ensures there are no vulnerabilities in their software systems before they go live on production networks or devices connected directly to those networks. 4. Testing & monitoring efficiently Automating each test case and experimenting with the software are steps in the testing process. Automation should be used for every cycle that needs to be performed repeatedly over time, and there are enough technologies out there to make this a reality. There will usually be ways to automate the equivalent of manual testing measures, thus those methods need to be assessed for potential automation outcomes. 5. Quality Delivery Quickly The test suite should be able to be executed on each product assembly created without customer involvement during the delivery cycle. As a result, a clear objective was established: to deliver high-quality services fast via constant monitoring. Ops teams can monitor and make sure that the environment is stable and that the